


The Ties That Bind

by MalevolentReverie



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Adultery, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2013-12-14
Packaged: 2018-01-03 08:29:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 43,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1068279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalevolentReverie/pseuds/MalevolentReverie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An accident with instant transmission leaves Goku permanently bound to a woman living in the real world, where Saiyans and power levels don't exist. Can they solve each other's problems or will his presence just cause more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! This is my third or fourth DBZ fanfic and one of my personal favorites. Goku is occasionally OOC for reasons that will be explained in-text. This combines both the DBZ world and our world together, but it is not self-insertion and it is not a Mary Sue fic. Enjoy!

Every time I closed my eyes and fell asleep, I had the same dream.

The doctors called in an anomaly when I was younger but I liked to refer to it as a curse. It wasn’t a pleasant dream I could look forward to being replayed over and over again in my head night after night. No, it was a nightmare, one of the gut-wrenching, wake-up-in-a-sweaty-panic ones. After all the years I had to grow accustomed to it and prepare for the ultimate outcome I still couldn’t get one solid night of sleep. It didn’t matter how many sleeping pills I took or what food I ate or how much I exercised. It was always the same outlandish thing repeating every time I drifted off…

_A tall man stood a few feet in front of me, wearing strange clothes that shone brightly in the darkness. His hair was thick and black, standing out in all different directions like he never brushed it. I was hiding behind a bush as I watched him stare at the moon in the clearing and he suddenly laughed. My eyes widened when he turned around to face me and I noticed he had black eyes. It almost looked like he was possessed. He pointed a finger at me and beckoned for me to emerge from my hiding place._

_“Come here, little human,” he said. “I know you’re there. Why avoid your fate?”_

_My whole body was trembling violently as I rose from the spot and stepped into the clearing. The stranger folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. He was big. That was one thing that always stood out to me the most. Sometimes I’d pick up other details, like the color of the leaves or what animals were watching us from the woods. I took a step closer and stopped when he motioned for me not to move. He grinned, showing off horrible fangs and began circling me like a vulture. It took all of my strength to stand in that spot._

_“You’re all so puny. Fragile and breakable.” He was suddenly behind me with his hands on both of my shoulders. “I’m going to enjoy this much more than you will.”_

_Before the sweet release of consciousness could save me from the rest of the nightmare, the man spun me around with a wild look in his eyes. Confused, I struggled in his grasp. Usually I woke up after the threat and that was that. He never had his hands on me for very long and even if he did, he never looked so… human. The black in his eyes receded to show he had golden irises and he shook me violently to get me to focus on him instead of staring vaguely into space._

_“Who are you?” he asked. “Why do I keep coming here every night? Answer me!”_

_“I-I don’t know!”_

_I quickly clasped a hand over my mouth. Since when did I speak in the dream?_

_The man’s eyes were pleading and desperate. “Please, if you know anything, tell me! I keep coming here and I’ve never been able to say anything until now. I don’t know why. You must know something. Where do you live? Over in Satan City? I’m at the base of Mt. Paozu.”_

The scream preceded me flying up in bed, drenched in sweat. Even after I was fully awake I kept panting heavily, looking around my small room for any signs of an intruder. My black cat, Peter, was curled at the foot of my bed and opened one green eye to watch me with what I thought was amusement. I put one hand to my chest to feel my frantic heartbeat and flopped back down in bed, trying to relax. My alarm clock told me it was only 5AM so I still had a couple of hours to sleep before work. 

“Thanks for your concern,” I called to my cat.

He yowled in response.

It became evident after a half hour that I wasn’t going to be sleeping again anytime soon so I crawled out of bed to get a glass of water and a snack. I shuffled through my apartment to the kitchen and did just that, settling on crackers with cheese to fill my stomach and calm my nerves. Peter followed me, always eager to get a free treat and I rolled my eyes before dropping him a sliver of cheese. I sat in one of the chairs by my table and nibbled thoughtfully on a cracker, surprised that my dream had changed.

The doctor I had as a little girl also believed I was adopted—both of my parents were blondes and I turned out with the darkest hair you could imagine. He was kind of insane but meant well. Unfortunately, when he passed away I also lost the only person who had a mild understanding of my repeating nightmare. No doctor believed me when I insisted the same dream haunted me every night. They told me I was imagining things, or I just thought the same dream was coming back when in reality it was changing very slightly. I rubbed my eyes tiredly and took a sip of water.

Exhaustion was my constant companion. I was so used to not sleeping that I barely lay down for more than three hours at night. My friends all knew why I had bags under my eyes and they all cheered with me when I managed to sleep for six hours. Still, I couldn’t go my entire life not sleeping. I was only twenty-two but I was starting to feel the costliness of my nightmares throughout my body. Sleep deprivation was making it hard to exercise and focus on work, which was really important when you worked at a desk job. Losing focus always meant falling asleep.

Sometimes I wondered if the strange man was someone I was destined to meet. I’d spent many a night wandering the town in search of him but I never came up with anything conclusive. He was a figment of my imagination; a representation of some inner trauma I couldn’t come to grips with. The nightmares started when I was eleven so it was very possible I had repressed an event before that. 

I dropped my forehead on the table when Peter leapt up, purring for more cheese. The prognosis was poor for me. At best, I’d only live until I was thirty. People needed eight hours of sleep every night that were unrestricted by night terrors. Technically I could get power naps in here and there that added up to the essential eight but that never seemed to help. I yawned obnoxiously and raised my head to come face-to-face with Peter, who hadn’t given up on his quest for human food.

“You’re ridiculous,” I muttered, giving him another small piece.

Soon I made my way back to my warm bed, a.k.a. my worst enemy. I settled down with a book about the Crusades and was getting to the extremely boring stuff that would make me sleep when my cell phone rang. I didn’t have to look at the ID to know who it was. No one else would be awake at such an ungodly hour besides my coworker and best friend, Erin. I pressed the answer button and balanced the phone between my shoulder and cheek.

“How’d you know?” I asked.

“Come on, Naomi. I’ve known you since we were two feet tall. Same old, same old?” Erin shifted in the background, probably getting dressed. “You need to see a doctor again.”

“It was… different this time.”

“How so? Different hair color or something?”

“No,” I said absently, mostly focused on the book, “he addressed me directly. He asked who I was and where I was from. Said something about ‘Satan City’ and ‘Mt. Paozu.’ Maybe a guy from Japan is infiltrating my dreams at night. Help me find him and get my life back.”

Erin laughed. “Now the strange dude is telling you he lives in a fantasy world? Jesus, you’re worse than I thought. I’m heading down to Starbucks before work if you wanna tag along. And by tag along I mean give me a lift there because I don’t feel like dealing with the stinky old bus.”

“Sure, but you’re awfully needy.”

She promptly called me a bitch and hung up.

Peter entered the room just as I stood back up and tossed the book carelessly aside. I walked across my plush tan carpet to the closet and picked out my work clothes—khakis and a plain pink blouse. They were already pressed from my sleepless night the day before. I stripped out of my cloud-print pajamas and put them on so Peter couldn’t see me half naked for too long. He was a weird cat. 

I walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth and pull my thick hair up in a ponytail, then made sure everything was prim and proper for a day at the office. My shift was the same and I liked it. Eight to two left me most of the day to do whatever I wanted when work was out. The apartment I rented was at a fair enough price and in a clean part of town. The doctor recommended I live as stress-free a life as possible and I had done just that to ensure I’d live for a long time. Still, when I woke up in a cold sweat I couldn’t help but think it was all in vain. Everyone died.

“Be a good kitty,” I said to Peter as I left him his kibble for the day. “I better not come home to any more shredded upholstery or you’re getting grounded.”

Peter watched me grab my keys and head out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

The street was quiet when I walked out to my car. A thin veil of fog hung over the pavement and the sun hadn’t quite raised in the sky, giving the illusion that I was trapped in another dream. My key crunched in the lock and I slipped inside my cold Hyundai, quickly starting up the engine and turning on the heat. September had hit hard and fast this year—I was given no time to prepare for the cold with cozy blankets and a new space heater. I shivered for a few seconds before pulling away from the curb in my quiet little suburb and heading down the street toward Erin’s apartment.

Kennebunk, Maine was a quiet town most days of the year. During the summer we were overloaded with excited tourists from down south who couldn’t wait to see the beautiful beaches and feel the freezing water. I was a ten minute drive from the beach and I couldn’t have been happier with that. My parents lived back in Pennsylvania with my sixteen year old sister, Sophie, and my fourteen year old brother, Oliver. They tried to visit every weekend but it was becoming difficult with my siblings getting older so I tried not to pressure them too much with it. I had miles of nature trails and huge fields filled with wildflowers to keep me company, along with my friends.

Soon I pulled up to Erin’s apartment and she dashed out the door to get into my car before the cold got to her bones. Once inside, she cranked up the heat and put her skinny fingers in front of it like she’d been frozen into a popsicle. A lot of people commented that she and I acted a lot alike, to the point where we could have been mistaken for relatives. But she had dirty blonde hair that was never up and I normally didn’t go a day without my hair in a ponytail. She heaved a sigh when I took off down the street again to the Starbucks near our office. 

“Ed left for work an hour ago,” Erin said as she put on lipstick in the mirror. “He’s converted me to his sleep and wake cycles. Soon I’m gonna be like you. I followed you here when you said ‘hey, let’s move out of boring Pennsylvania!’ and now I’ll be deprived of sleep. Just like you.”

“You should be thanking me. You’d still be a receptionist dating some backwoods hick but I brought you to the good life, with good guys like Ed. You’re welcome.”

“Now I’m an office worker for a computer company, which wasn’t much of an improvement. It certainly pays much better. With Ed practically moved in and his raise at the construction company we should be able to get a house and buy a car.” Erin sighed dreamily. “No more dirty bus, no more creepy men hitting on me when I’m exhausted from work. Can you imagine it, Nome?”

“I can imagine how much better my life would be if you stopped calling me that. I’m not a town in Alaska.”

We bickered about the nickname she had bestowed upon me as a child until we arrived at Starbucks. I parked the car and we hurried inside the warm building to get some coffee and donuts to hold us over at work. Erin escorted me to a chair by the window and told me about how she thought Ed was going to propose—they had been dating for a few years now, after all—and demanded I be her maid of honor in the chance that it happened any time soon. I did what was best for my own health and agreed.

When six o’ clock hit we drove a few blocks downtown to our job, where a few people were already filing inside. My manager, Vic, was really flexible with hours and allowed us to show up and leave whenever we wanted. It was technically against company policy but he was a laid-back boss and Erin had her suspicions that he was harboring a secret crush on me. I didn’t mind. He was awfully nice and as far as I knew, unattached. Maine was full of people like him.

Erin carried up one of the boxes of donuts we bought and kicked the door open to our floor dramatically, rousing the sleepy people from their monotonous work. We only worked with five others: Ron, Gina, Amy, Walter, and Keith. The two women were middle-aged and the guys were also older than us but not by much. They all brightened upon seeing us with donuts and hustled over to ask what they owed, where we got them, and whether or not it was a special occasion. I smiled at their thank-yous and shook my head when they offered me money. 

Life was pretty good. Not perfect, but close.

Soon I made my way to my cubicle to start a spread sheet for computer sales that month. When I settled down with a donut hanging attractively out of my mouth, someone knocked casually on the edge of my cubicle. I turned, expecting to see Erin and was instead confronted with Vic’s curious expression. Embarrassed, I stuffed the donut down my throat and smiled without showing my teeth. He had gotten a haircut. Normally his blonde hair was kind of shaggy. And he smelled good, kind of like Axe. He was only a bit older than me so something between us could work.

“Just wanted to say thanks for breakfast,” Vic said. “You’re in early again today. Couldn’t sleep?”

“You know me, the weird girl who has waking nightmares! So uh how are things going on your end? I see you got a haircut and you… smell good?”

“Oh, thanks.” He fingered the handle on his coffee mug, looking as awkward as I felt. “You look good, too. Well you always look good but… ok, I’m gonna let you get to work so you can be out of here by noon or whatever. Just call me if you need anything.”

Then he was gone, leaving behind the faint scent of body spray and coffee. I exhaled with relief and Erin peered over the top of her cubicle to check me out, her brown eyes drilling my blue ones. When I tried to wave her off she brandished her cell phone in one hand and made a texting motion, signaling for me to break the rules and use my phone during work. I shook my head furiously and put up nine fingers to signal for her to meet me in the break room around that time. She stuck out her tongue but got the hint and disappeared back into her cubicle.

The only problem I had with my job was that it got incredibly boring after an hour. There was always something to do, but it never went by fast enough. I’d be typing the same report for half my shift and feel as though I had nothing accomplished at the end of the day. I guessed that was why it paid so well. Not many people could tolerate the monotony involved in a desk job so if you could grin and bear it you were reimbursed very well. I finished up my spread sheet at nine on the dot and headed to the break room to tell Erin that absolutely nothing had happened between Vic and me.

On the way, I felt a weird tug. It wasn’t an actual pull that I could sense outside my body. Something deep within me was dragging me away from work to the cold outdoors, toward an alley by my house. It seemed to yank desperately on my insides for a few seconds before fading away. Unnerved, I pushed inside the break room and was instantly greeted by a very annoyed Erin. She started yipping at me for not texting her and the feeling surfaced briefly before vanished altogether. It was almost like someone needed me and was calling for help…

“When I tell you to spill about Vic, you say ‘sure, Erin!’ instead of blowing me off like some slutty college girl.” Erin noticed my vacant look and snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Nome, I’m talking to you! You just chatted it up with our boss; you can’t ignore me. How long did you sleep last night? It looks like an hour. Maybe you should go home for a while. I’m sure he’ll let you go.”

“I’m fine,” I lied. “When do I not look tired? Vic and I had the same awkward conversation we always do. I don’t know why you freak out about these things.”

Erin watched in disbelief as I poured myself a cup of water from the dispenser. My body was shaking a little bit from the tugging and I really wanted to figure out what it could be from. Vic and work were officially the last two things on my mind, besides Peter and his damn claws that I needed to clip. I took a sip of water to calm myself, hoping it was just jitters from the coffee. Caffeine was another constant companion of mine. If it weren’t for that wonderful drug, I would never get out of bed.

“Nome, you haven’t dated anyone in a year! Forget about Craig. Your very attractive, very smart, very nice, very single boss is interested and you’re turning up your nose to him! He manages this whole joint. You two could be a power couple, y’know? You run this floor and he’s the tyrant ruling over everything else. That’d be a movie I’d pay to see.”

“Craig and I dated for a few months. I’m over him, trust me. I don’t think Vic and I can even legally date since he’s my boss. I’m not really into finding a long-term commitment right now, anyway. Come back to me when I’m thirty and we’ll see how desperate I’m getting.”

“All I’m saying is that he was made it perfectly clear he’s interested. He’s probably afraid to take the next step because he doesn’t want you taking it the wrong way. I should just pull something to get the two of you together because the suspense it absolutely killing me. Then you’ll get married and we can have play dates with our kids and dress them up the same and… it’ll be great.”

The tugging returned with a vengeance, pulling so hard I dropped my Dixie cup on the linoleum floor. Erin came out of her fantasy world to hold out her arms in case I passed out, which wasn’t really an uncommon thing. When you never slept your body just lost control of itself sometimes. I slumped against the microwave, grimacing when the sensation became so intense I couldn’t deny it any more. After I acknowledge its power over me it was gone in an instant.

Erin looked at me worriedly. “Is it a bad one? Go ask Vic if you can take the day off. You need to relax before you die.”

“That’s comforting,” I said. “Come by the house later tonight. Hopefully I’ll still be breathing.”

Exhausted beyond belief, I made my way to Vic’s office and knocked on the door. He opened it and barely caught me as I lost my balance, unable to stand on my own two feet. Whatever disease I had been cursed with was absolutely humiliating. I couldn’t really go anywhere on my own, not when I ran the risk of falling asleep for no apparent reason. Erin followed me around to help if that did happen and I had a feeling it was one of the things that drove Craig away.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “but I can’t stay.”

“I figured. You need to see a doctor, Naomi. Do you want me to bring you home?”

“No I should be okay to drive. It’s not that far. I’ll definitely be in tomorrow so don’t write me off or worry about it. Some days are just hard.”

Vic nodded and helped me to my feet again, then watched as I walked off down the hall.

My body was a trembling mess when I finally got to my cubicle to get my keys. I gave Erin a quick hug and headed back out into the mildly busy Monday morning, desperate to get home and lie down. Nothing as severe as tremors had happened before. Sleep deprivation really was killing me. 

Somehow I made it back home and stumbled up to my apartment, slamming the door shut behind me. Peter hung back to watch me throw my keys on the table and make a crash landing on my bed. It felt like my eyelids were being pulled together by magnets and the annoying tugging returned. Maybe it was my brain usurping against the dumb human it had been paired with. A small smile graced my face before I fell into a blissfully deep sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Waking up was wonderfully slow for me.

I was used to hovering between sleep and awareness when I lay down but for the first time in ten long years, it felt like I had actually broken the boundary. My toes tingling as I woke from the deepest sleep I could remember enjoying and I nestled closer to my warm bed without bothering to open my eyes and check the time. For all I knew, I could’ve been sleeping for a solid year and I wouldn’t have cared. Warmth trickled through my appendages and I yawned happily, stretching my arms out in front of me.

It was then that I noticed a thick arm draped around my waist, holding me close to what felt like a very big man who was still fast asleep. 

My heart sank, weighted down with fear. Who the hell could be in my bed? I came straight home after work… Terrified, I reached for my phone on the bedside table and quickly speed-dialed Erin’s number until she answered in a mildly irritated tone. It was almost nine o’ clock at night, which meant I had been fast asleep for nearly twelve hours. That was a new record for me but there was no time to celebrate. I had to get the strange guy out of my bed, fast.

“Erin?” I whispered. “Can you do me a huge favor and come over to my apartment?”

“It’ll take a few to get there but sure. Something wrong?” There was a pause and she gasped. “Holy shit, have you been sleeping all day?! You know what this means, right? You slept for more than six hours straight. Almost twelve! What the hell did you do to make that happen?”

“Well there’s some dude in my bed I don’t fucking know, so if you could get over here ASAP before I’m murdered Ted Bundy style I’d really appreciate it.”

“Is he hot?”

“Excuse me?”

“If the guy is hot then he won’t murder you. My little Nome got laid and managed to sleep like a normal person all in one day! Don’t tell Vic, though. He’ll be pissed he missed his chance. Though I guess you could rub it in—”

“Erin Elizabeth Elliott, if you don’t get your ass over here and I die, I will haunt you for all eternity.”

“Ugh, fine. Just don’t wake him up.”

We hung up and I carefully placed my phone back on the table just as the man stirred, yawning into the back of my neck. My eyes were wide and scared, glancing around fervently for anything I could use as a weapon. Of all the sleeping difficulties I had the one thing I had never done was sleepwalk. I’d come home and fallen asleep within seconds after leaving work so the guy had to be an intruder. Nothing between my legs hurt or anything so I hoped to God we didn’t hook up. 

The stranger suddenly sat up and I squeezed my eyes shut just before he could see my face. I really wanted to know what he looked like but it was better if he assumed I was asleep. He scratched his head and cracked his neck in a few places, then leaned over me with one arm on either side of my body. My heart thundered in my chest when he lowered his face close to mine, but he just laughed a little and grabbed my phone. He smelled good—kind of like pine trees and smoke. He fumbled around for a few seconds, trying to type out a text I guessed, and I opened my eyes again.

“After all these years having the same dream, you’d think I could at least know your name,” he said. “Nome? Kind of odd, but it fits. You can turn and face me whenever you’re ready.”

I swallowed. He knew I was awake? Dammit.

When I unwillingly turned to see who had broken into my apartment, I nearly passed out again. He was a pretty big guy as I had guessed from his arm. Thick, black hair stuck out from his head like he hadn’t brushed it since… well, since never and he had dark grey irises that blended closely with his pupils. I rubbed my eyes to do a double-take and secretly wished I was dreaming because the only way a man like that would be sleeping in my bed was if alcohol was involved. But he finished his text and politely set my phone down to smile at me.

Thankfully he had a plain black t-shirt on or I might have started drooling all over my new comforter set. If I had started sleepwalking I really needed to do it more often. Yet he looked oddly familiar. We must have met somewhere before.

I cleared my throat and sat up, keeping my legs concealed beneath the blankets. “So… how did this happen? And what’s your name? You know mine and you were using my phone—you’re welcome, by the way—so I think you owe me something, too.”

“Oh, I was just telling your friend not to come over. We have a lot to talk about so I don’t want her making it any more confusing than it already is. But don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you. If I was, I would’ve done it by now.” He smiled again, showing off white teeth. “My name is Goku. I’m the person you’ve been dreaming about.”

“No, that’s not a real person; it’s just a figment of my imagination.”

“I’m real. Technically I’m from a different reality but I’m still real. I can use this thing called instant transmission that lets me travel anywhere in the universe in the blink of an eye. When I first learned it I was having a hard time focusing to make it work and I somehow crossed into your reality. I don’t really get it but my friend Bulma is a scientist and she explained it to me. Anyway, you were there when I did it and we kind of have a mental link now.

“The link kind of pulls you between realities so it makes it really hard to sleep. Trust me, I’ve been going through the same thing. But I was able to cross over again a few days ago and I got this tugging feeling that led me here. Then I came upstairs, saw you and got awfully tired. So I figured I’d sleep and wait until you woke up to talk to you.”

I had let an insane man into my house.

When I tried to grab my phone Goku got there first, quickly snatching it away and pinning my hand to the bed. I struggled desperately to get it with my other hand but he tossed the phone and pinned both of my wrists down so I couldn’t call Erin for help. Terrified, I started screaming and demanding he release me, which led to me being held down under his considerable weight. Goku covered my mouth with his hand and frowned.

“I knew it would be hard to believe but come on. Who else would know about your dream? I’ve been looking for you for a long time so we could fix this and you just want to scream and be rude when I finally do. Now calm down and listen to me. This is the first time you’ve slept in years and the same goes for me. I think it has to with how close we are—maybe when we’re in the same reality it happens. I don’t know but I want you to work with me instead of calling your friends.”

I scowled and shook my mouth free of his hand. “Your name is Goku? What kind of name is that? If you’re really the guy from my dream then what city were you talking about last night?”

“Satan City and Mt. Paozu.”

“…Fine, you win that one. I still think you’re a crazy hobo off the street who broke into my apartment but if you really believe you’re from a different dimension then I can’t convince you otherwise. That doesn’t mean I have to lay here and listen to you ramble about it for the entire night.”

Goku’s dark eyes studied me, trying to find a chink in my armor. “Humans are always doing that. Ignoring what’s right in front of their noses. I think that’s why you always get into so much trouble and I have to save you.” 

Annoyed, I tore my wrists free of his grasp so he was left hovering over me awkwardly, still staring into my eyes like I might be hiding some secret. I rubbed the feeling back into my hands and Goku sat up so I could hop out of bed to go get some dinner. It was probably better that Erin wasn’t coming over. She would be all over him like a cheap suit and Ed didn’t need the added stress of knowing his girlfriend was around an incredibly toned Greek god. I peeked over my shoulder at Goku when we entered the kitchen and suddenly felt like a fat frog.

I grabbed a Stouffer’s mac & cheese dinner for myself and a second one for my new resident crazy person. Goku sat at the kitchen table with his hands folded neatly while I microwaved our food and eagerly dug in when I set it in front of him. By the time he was finished I had only placed a cup of juice to go with it next to the empty microwave pan. I tossed it out and raised an eyebrow which he only shrugged sheepishly to. For a weight lifter he sure had no qualms about his diet.

“Fast metabolism,” he said as if he’d rehearsed the excuse a thousand times.

“Uh huh.”

I sat down in front of him with my eyes narrowed and slowly ate my mac & cheese. He seemed moderately sane, besides the freaky name. He looked around the kitchen curiously at my decorations and Peter once again leapt up to elicit more petting, purring happily when Goku obliged. His huge hands could have easily broken my tiny cat’s spine.

“So,” I said, “what are you gonna do now?”

Goku shrugged. “I was thinking we could kind of go back and forth. We can stay in your time for a week then go to mine for a week and keep doing that. If we’re apart neither of us can sleep. My wife won’t be very happy about me sleeping with another woman, though.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “No, she’ll beat me to a pulp. But it’s for my health, right?”

Images of the woman Goku was married to flashed in my mind. She was probably gorgeous and rich, some young thing from the Hills. It upset me a little that the guy haunting me was married and apparently very committed to said wife. Not that I would want to tempt a married man but it would be nice if I didn’t have to sleep next to an incredibly attractive guy every night who was totally off-limits. Erin would find the entire situation hysterical. I’d never hear the end of it.

“How do you know we won’t be able to sleep from now on?” I asked. “We finally met so now maybe our minds can be at rest.”

“It’s gonna be like this for a while until my friend Bulma figures out how to fix it. We’re connected so when we’re part it kinda strains our brains and they can’t rest. Chi-Chi was mad when she first found out I kept having the dreams but now that she knows it’s a pretty girl… I’m in a lot of trouble, Nome.”

The compliment made me blush, but I hid it quickly. “My name is Naomi. My ridiculous friend calls me ‘Nome’ because she’s a jerk. I don’t want to be a harlot so maybe you can just come here once in a while and sleep on the floor or something. I know I’d be upset if my husband was with some chick from a different world every night.”

“She’s used to us being separated by now.” Goku leaned back in his chair as he stroked Peter from head to tail. He looked sad. “We can stay here for a while. Everything is okay back in my home realm so I don’t mind hanging around in yours. I used to think you were just on a different planet but you’re really on an opposite plane of existence. It’s kind of interesting. Makes my head hurt, though.”

“Why don’t you go back there during the day and come here at night?”

“It’s getting too difficult when we’re that far apart for that long. I only came here and managed to find you because I felt a weird tug. I have a feeling it’s gonna get worse than that if I try to leave for very long. But as long as we’re in the same realm I guess it won’t matter. We just can’t be apart for days on end or bad things are gonna start happening.”

“This all happened because of something you did, right? Any clue how it could have made us this dependent on one another? I’m not saying I totally believe your story but… I’ll listen.”

Goku smirked and scratched under Peter’s chin. The cat had really taken a liking to him. “It’s called instant transmission. I can travel anywhere in the universe if I can focus on someone’s life force, more or less. No one here has a strong signal for me to latch on to but I had a chance encounter with you a long time ago and somehow, it was burned into both of us. Bulma thinks it upset the balance of the whole universe and we were tethered together to keep it from fracturing. We’re from very different places, Naomi. Your place is kinda sad, though. There’s a lot of unrest in the world.”

“Huh. Well if you can take me to your ‘home’ I’ll believe you. Until then I’ll treat you like every other crazy person on the street. And I work in the morning so you’ll be here alone. I hope you don’t implode without me here.”

“Don’t you worry about me, Nome! I might go back to my realm to bring a few people over so I can spar with them. I know you humans are very attached to your jobs so I wouldn’t want to pull you away from that, but I like fighting more than you can imagine.”

My eyes fell upon his arms when I rose from the table to throw away my empty tray. Yeah, it wasn’t hard to believe he liked fighting. 

We made our way back to my bedroom and I felt insecure about the mess on the floor all of a sudden, but quickly shut off the light and climbed under the covers. Peter leapt up to curl by my feet and Goku lay down beside me again on his back. I turned away from him and closed my eyes. The balance of my perfect life had been upset by an incredibly toned lunatic. If that wouldn’t cause me more nightmares, I didn’t know what could.


	4. Chapter 4

My resident sleeping pill was gone when I woke up the next morning. I enjoyed having my first rested morning to myself and took a nice hot shower before making my way out to the kitchen for breakfast. Normally I skipped it altogether or made a few pieces of toast but it was a special occasion and I had a few hours before work. I hummed happily as I took out eggs and pancake mix, keeping an eye on Peter as he roamed around the raw ingredients. He wouldn’t hesitate to take a bite if I turned my back and he was so small he could hide easily until my temper wasn’t as dangerous.

The phone rang while I was making eggs and I answered with a distinct chirp in my tone—did I sound too happy? Not only had I finally slept a full night for the first time in forever but my death sentence from the doctor didn’t matter anymore. Now I had my entire life to look forward to instead of a few more miserable, sleepless years. It came at a small price, too. Being happy was all I knew.

Erin laughed on the other end. “I’m guessing you slept again last night. Everything was fine with that guy? You seemed sincere when you texted me so I figured I’d let it go and call back later on. Oddly enough you were fast asleep by that time. I told you sex helps you sleep but you never believed me until now! Did you take a picture of him? What’d be look like? How did you two meet? Are you dating? Is he married or single? No married guys, Nome.”

“Jesus, I wasn’t expecting twenty questions. Come over and have breakfast with me. I’ll explain everything and Peter might let you share part of his pancake.”

“Okay, fine. I don’t know why you’re such a morning person. I’ve been working at this job with you for almost two years and I still can’t get used to rolling out of bed at such an ungodly hour. Tell Peter he better not hog all the syrup!”

We hung up and I went back to making breakfast. When it was done, I set out plates for Erin and me and put a little bit of egg in Peter’s dish. He meowed happily as my best friend walked in the door without bothering to knock. Her chest was heaving and I rolled my eyes when she plopped down in a chair and started shoveling food in her face. Of course she ran over to see the new man I had met but when I told her some stranger broke into my house she took her sweet time.

I picked at my pancakes, thinking of where Goku could have gone on his lonesome. He’d survived a few days in my world without any help so he could probably take care of himself. Maybe he went back home to see his wife and friends. They’d be happy he could finally get some rest and we had figured out a solution to both of our problems. But his wife wouldn’t be so thrilled that her husband slept beside a stranger from a different dimension who found him mildly attractive. Erin reached across the table to snatch a hash brown off my plate and shove it in her mouth.

“You look down for having such a good night,” she said.

“I wouldn’t call having a married guy in my bed ‘good.’ But the sleeping thing was a plus.”

“If he’s as hot as I’m imagining then who cares? Have your fun and send him on his way. You should consider opening your own bakery, this is delicious.”

Sitting there with my perfectly normal friend made me realize there was no way I could tell her the truth. Either she wouldn’t believe me or she would and she’d get dragged into the mess. It was disheartening to know the secret was a burden I had to bear alone but things would be easier that way. Erin didn’t understand the circumstances. She didn’t know how it felt to never sleep at night. What felt like a load off my shoulders would just weigh her down to my level. 

I took my dishes to the sink and rinsed them off to be cleaned later. “Goku isn’t from here. I think he came from somewhere up north, maybe Canada. He’s really nice. Maybe you two can meet some time. I think he went home to uh… see his wife.”

“How could I not see that coming? Of course you’d fall for a foreign guy! What line of work is he in? Does he have any kids? I hope I can meet him soon.”

“He didn’t really say. We met kind of suddenly yesterday and I don’t want to press him for answers. What we have is supposed to be low-key and only mentioned when necessary. Neither of us wants word getting out about anything, you know? It’s easier this way.”

“Alright, my lips are sealed.” Erin took a sip of her apple juice, watching me like a hawk.

The rest of the day was likewise uneventful. Work went by slowly and I had to keep fending off Erin’s relentless questions until I was finally set free at two. Even then she insisted on coming home with me in the off chance that Goku was there to greet me. I sincerely had my doubts that he would hang around in my reality if he didn’t need to but I had seen stranger things before. We picked up a few subs on the way back to bring home for dinner and I intended on setting two aside for Goku’s enormous appetite. Upon reaching my apartment I noticed the door was slightly ajar. Nervous, I slowly pushed it open.

Three men and one very small woman were standing in my living room, discussing something in whispers I couldn’t pick up. The woman noticed Erin and me and jabbed the man to her right in the ribs, inclining her head sharply in my direction. Erin shut the door and sucked in a deep breath when Goku turned around to face me and smiled brightly. I waved a bit and tried to look away from the man who was now rubbing his ribcage—he looked a lot like Goku, but seemed to be around my age. How could Goku have a twenty year old child? He looked maybe five years older than me.

The last man turned and I took an involuntary step back when his black eyes locked on mine. He had a severe widow’s peak and a cold scowl that told me he wasn’t someone I wanted to mess with. Thankfully he didn’t find me particularly interesting and turned around with an arrogant snort. 

The woman glanced between Goku and me before striding forward to shake my hand, smiling warmly. She had blue eyes and black hair, setting her apart from the men. It felt like she would break my fingers when we shook and I grimaced to hide the pain radiating through my muscles. She seemed to notice and gasped before letting go.

“I’m sorry!” she said. “I’m so used to fighting that I don’t know my own strength. My name is Videl and this is Vegeta. My boyfriend, Gohan, is hiding over in the corner. Come say hi, Gohan! She won’t bite.”

Gohan had spiky hair that didn’t really match is father’s, but their builds and eyes looked the same. He rubbed the back of his head and stepped forward to say hi, turning pink when Videl told him to speak up. They all looked like they didn’t belong in my world. Their clothes were modern to a degree. But the way their hair and eyes were seemed to alien to be from any place I could think of. I half-expected Vegeta to say something but he remained still with his back facing us.

Erin was choking a little behind me. “Am… am I dreaming?”

“Sort of,” Videl said. “Anyway, we all wanted to come through and meet you, Naomi. Goku was originally bringing Vegeta along but Gohan insisted that we come, too.” She smiled over her shoulder at her boyfriend who nodded quickly in agreement. “Don’t worry, we won’t intrude and we’ll leave around nightfall. Your world is so much different than ours!”

“World?” Erin echoed.

“She meant country,” Goku said, trying to cover up Videl’s gaffe. “We’re all from the far east.”

This seemed to surprise Erin even more and she stepped forward to scrutinize them. “Huh. Normally people from out there have kinda narrow eyes and are tiny. You’re all… big. Except for Videl, of course. But you look foreign somehow. Maybe it’s just me thinking too much.”

It was true. That had been one of the first things I noticed about Goku—he looked like he was from another planet. Seeing a group of them in the same room reaffirmed that in my mind, but perhaps things were different in his reality. Videl was the exception. She was tiny, a bit smaller than me, and had a rare but not totally unnatural eye and hair color combination. I kind of worried about her being around gigantic alien men.

“Well we’re not gonna be too far off,” Goku said as an uncomfortable silence settled on the room. “Ready, Vegeta?”

The scowling man snorted disdainfully. “Of all the ridiculous things you’ve gotten yourself into, this is by far the worst, Kakarot.”

There was really no time to ask what “Kakarot” meant. They all hurried from my apartment and were soon gone, leaving behind no trace of their existence. Erin sighed dreamily and plopped on the couch in my living room while I stood quietly near the wall. Had I inadvertently discovered a parallel dimension where aliens lived with incredible superpowers? Videl was abnormally strong, especially for a woman and something about the way they all looked really struck me as odd. How could Goku look so young and have a son roughly my age? It wasn’t adding up.

Then again, why was I so concerned with the nitty-gritty details? Everything about our meeting defied logic so a few inconsistencies really didn’t matter. If what Goku claimed was true than that meant the textbooks had to be rewritten; physicists had been wrong; wormholes could exist… Thinking of it made my head hurt. If I needed my questions answered I’d have plenty of time between bouncing around different realities. Odds are we’d be heading to his world within a few days. How would I explain what was going on to Vic? I’d be fired before I could bat an eye.

That also left me with the dilemma of meeting Goku’s wife, who apparently wasn’t in the mood to cross dimensions and see the strange woman her husband had met. I slumped dejectedly into my armchair while Erin hummed away happily, probably dreaming of the muscly men who had just been crammed in my apartment. Life was better when it was simple. All this talk about different realms was gonna drive me crazy. Never sleeping again seemed like a viable alternative.

“You look awfully upset,” Erin said, turning over on her stomach to look at me. “They all seemed to like you so what’s the big deal? Maybe Goku didn’t even tell his wife. You know, if you decide you don’t want him I’d love to step in and—”

“What about Ed?”

“Oh… duh. Maybe I could convince them to do a three way.”

“You’re so foul sometimes. Come on, let’s go to the mall. I need something to keep my mind off all this nonsense.”

I was unwilling to admit it, but a painful feeling of loneliness was building in my gut. It might have been better if Goku and I had stayed apart.


	5. Chapter 5

It was nightfall by the time Erin and I left the mall. I dropped her off at her apartment and promised to text her if anything bad happened with Goku. The streets of my small town were quiet as usual, only interrupted by the rumbling of my car’s engine. I lazily leaned my arm against the door as I drove back home and turned on the radio to keep from falling asleep. The close I got to my house the more aware I became of the lonely feeling beginning to recede, quickly being replaced by—

“You have a weird energy signature.”

My eyes flew open and I nearly veered off the road into a ditch, but luckily Goku was expecting me to panic. He grabbed the steering wheel and righted the car which protected me from going headfirst through the windshield as I slammed on the brakes. He laughed as I panted in terror and trembled in the seat. I should’ve known he’d use his trick to show up out of nowhere. I swallowed hard and pushed my hair back away from my face as Goku released the steering wheel, smirking to himself.

“Was that supposed to be funny?” I hissed.

“What? Oh, no. You just overreacted a little. Couldn’t you sense me coming? You’re the only human I can pick out on this entire planet but I don’t freak out when you’re around.”

“I’m still getting accustomed to you showing up out of nowhere.”

Goku shrugged as I put the car back in drive and carried on down the street to my apartment. Of course he thought it was funny. In the event of an accident he could easily teleport away and leave me to become permanently molded into the steel of my car. My knuckles turned white as my grip tightened on the wheel and I bit the inside of my cheek. What a jerk. First he sleeps in my bed without asking permission, then he raids my fridge with his friends (I saw the damage before Erin and I left—it wasn’t pretty) and to top it all off, he nearly kills me.

We parked outside my house and I gathered the few bags of odds and ends I bought at the mall. Goku hopped out, stuffing his hands deep in his pockets and looking up and down the street curiously. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt this time, which was better than the all-black ensemble he had been sporting before. It didn’t make him blend in very well with the masses.

As we climbed the stairs Goku began whistling happily to a tune I couldn’t pinpoint. My key crunched in the lock and I escorted him inside, soon flipping on the lights and greeting a very irritated Peter. The cat shirked my attempts to love him and went straight to Goku, swaying a bit to the whistling. I scowled when Goku scooped him up, nuzzling their cheeks together like they were old friends. Peter was always a bit distant; I chalked it up to him being a stray most his life. Ungrateful little bastard.

I stuck a donut between my teeth and walked to my bedroom with bags in hand, followed closely by Goku and Peter. He stood at the door with the cat in his arms while I unpacked my new clothes. It was nothing major, just a few blouses for work and two pairs of jeans. Peter’s purring was so loud I could hear it clear across the room as I folded the clothes and put them in their appropriate drawers. The only time he purred for me was when I was dangling chicken or cheese in front of his face.

“So what if I get a boyfriend?” I asked without looking at Goku. “I don’t think he’ll be happy I’m more or less already attached.”

“My wife isn’t very happy, either. Of course she’s never really happy with the things I do. First I go and die a few times, then I don’t show up for Gohan’s piano recitals, then I make him stop studying so he can train to help me save the world. If they can’t trust you then they aren’t worth it. Besides, Bulma’s working on fixing this for both of us.”

“I wouldn’t be terribly enthused to find out my boyfriend is spending more time with some girl over me, regardless of why they have to do it.”

It was way too late to address how and why Goku had died “a few times” and when he and Gohan had saved the world. More importantly, it didn’t seem fair that I was trapped in our odd relationship while Goku could go about doing whatever he wanted. I had a job to tend to and Vic was finally hinting at asking me out on a date. There was no way I’d throw all that away for some guy I barely knew.

Goku set Peter on the floor and stepped into my room, shutting the door behind him. I didn’t know if he could sense my energy spiking when my heart beat faster but I certainly hoped he couldn’t. With every step he took toward me my pulse quickened until I had to physically step back or risk a heart attack. We looked at one another for a moment before Goku placed two fingers to his forehead. The weird trick. Great. That would give me enough time to get my feelings in order.

“I’m going to go somewhere far away,” he said. “When I come back, tell me if anything happened.”

“We’ve already established that we can’t be apart for very long.”

“I know, but I’m just curious to see what it’s like now that we’ve met. Ready?”

I shrugged indifferently and turned back to arranging my clothes, expecting a cold feeling or something close to it. There was a whirring sound and Goku was gone.

A surprised gasp left my lips and I crumpled to the floor like someone had punched me in the stomach. I panted desperately and clawed at the sheets, struggling to right myself and start breathing again. My lungs wouldn’t work; it kind of felt like the asthma attacks I used to have as a kid. Even as I fought to breathe I could feel him coming back. I heard the whirring and coughed as Goku reappeared beside me, immediately rubbing my back with one of his huge hands. 

“Jesus Christ,” I managed, “that was actually really painful.”

Out of my peripheral vision I noticed that Goku was shaking just as much as me. He was trying to keep his hand from twitching on my back but it was too obvious to hide. When he said we were “burned” by on another he really wasn’t kidding. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something strange was going on, like some cosmic power had deliberately bound us together for its own purposes.

As I regained my strength I could feel my heart starting to pound again so I dragged myself up on the bed to be away from Goku. He knelt before me, keeping both grey eyes focused intently on my own. As usual he was looking for answers I didn’t hold. Heat flooded my face and I quickly turned away to adjust one of the pillows before he could see and comment on it.

“I’ve been married for a long time,” Goku said.

Something in his facial expression made me worry.

“Nice,” I said.

“I have two sons and one is your age.”

“Also nice.”

“So that makes me twice your age.”

“Even nicer,” I said sarcastically.

Goku moved closer, placing his hands on either side of my hips so he was kneeling between my legs. Our faces were only a few inches apart and I was out of breath once again.

“Does that bother you?” he asked. “You haven’t asked me many questions. I know I look a little too young to be in my forties.”

“I’m saving them for later. The last few days have been stressful enough.” It was so true. I wanted to know how the hell he still looked to be in his mid-twenties.

A smile twinged his lips and he cocked his head. “Did you know your energy spikes when you’re feeling an intense emotion? Usually I can’t separate it but with you it’s pretty easy. Right now you’re very nervous and I think I know why.” 

“Well I have a lot to do at work tomorrow. Perhaps you should visit your wife while I’m busy during the day.”

Goku suddenly pulled himself up on top of me, making me lie back to keep our bodies as far apart as possible. Now my heart was really racing and my eyes were wide open, staring at him to see what he would do next. It had been a long time since I had sex if that was what he wanted but I wasn’t about to say no. Or should I? I really didn’t want to because… well, he was married and could be carrying some sort of crazy disease. It could all be an elaborate scheme.

Deliverance came in the form of a text. My phone started vibrating furiously on the nightstand and it snapped Goku out of whatever trance he was in. He rubbed his head and rolled off me so I could sit up and grab the phone, swiftly typing out a thank you to Erin for her late-night messages. When I turned back Goku still looked disoriented but he appeared to be otherwise back to normal. I excused myself to the bathroom and left him behind, making sure the door was shut and locked behind me.

If he used his little trick to come inside I’d knock him out with the shower head.


	6. Chapter 6

When I was clean and had my hair wrapped up in a towel I left the bathroom, hoping Goku had either decided to leave or gone to sleep already. Walking around the apartment half naked was a normal thing for me but it probably wasn’t a good idea with him practically living with me. As I came closer to my room I could hear Goku chatting with someone, probably on my cell phone, which meant he could be spilling our little secret to my family members. I gingerly nudged the door open with my foot and peered inside, praying he wasn’t naked or doing anything unsavory.

The mess of black hair was facing away from me, glued to the small television at the foot of my bed. I could see the outline of his face as he laughed at something the other person said before finally noticing me and hanging up. He smiled like nothing had happened half an hour ago and sat up as I picked out some pajamas from my dresser. Now he was wasting my precious cell phone minutes talking to god knows who about god knows what. Living with Goku was certainly not gonna be easy.

He twiddled his fingers nervously, desperate for me to ask who had been talking to. The curiosity was killing me but I wanted to make him sweat a bit. I hummed to myself as I picked through the drawer in search of a conservative outfit for bed. Some raggedy t-shirt and equally raggedy sweatpants would keep him at bay. There was no way I’d get involved in some insane relationship with a guy who was married, especially when he was twice my age without looking it. That was just unnatural. No, Goku was insane if he thought for one second I would give in—

“That was your friend,” Goku burst out. “She said she and Ed are going out and she wants you to come. And she’s bringing another man along for you. I don’t want to ruin your time but I should probably go so we aren’t too far apart.” He wouldn’t look me in the eye.

I shrugged and wondered who the hell Erin had found for me at this time of night. “Whatever, just don’t come near me, don’t get too drunk and don’t do anything stupid. Does she want me to pick them up?”

“Uh… I think so?”

“You two seemed to be having an awfully interesting conversation. I’m surprised you didn’t pick up anything important during it.”

My comment might have been a bit too harsh. Goku furrowed his brow in confusion until he recognized my jab and he lowered his gaze back to the floor, soon turning to the television. I shook out my hair and dried it as best I could then picked out something simple. We weren’t really going clubbing or anything, just to a place on the outskirts of town called Vapor. I didn’t have to work in the morning so I was definitely in the mood to drink way too much alcohol. 

Soon I was ready and we left the apartment, followed by a very annoyed Peter. I made sure it was locked and walked downstairs with Goku close behind, hands stuffed in his pockets. He still looked mopey as we drove to Erin’s and only peeked up when I parked outside her apartment. We both got out of the car and I saw three people walking toward us. The first two were easy enough to pick out in the dark. Ed was a stocky guy with blonde hair and I’d known him for a few years now. He didn’t talk much. But the tall man in the back couldn’t have been who I thought it was.

Unfortunately, it was.

Craig hadn’t changed very much. He was still tall with sandy brown hair and blue eyes I could’ve gazed into for the rest of my life. He was athletic like me and had a kind of square jaw that made him look serious, but I knew him better than that. The few months we had dated were some of the best of my life and it really broke my heart when he decided to call it quits. Craig smiled at me when the group stopped before us and I felt Goku suddenly standing very close to my side like a guard dog.

“Craig moved back a week or so ago,” Erin said, grinning. “He’s been dying to talk to you but you’ve changed your number a few times so it was tough. So I figured what better way to get reacquainted than getting completely wasted in a seedy club? Am I a great matchmaker or what?!”

It was hard to breathe. I managed to nod and was receptive enough when Craig moved forward to hug me tightly. He smelled like Axe and his sweater was warm. He pulled away and held my shoulders to look me over appreciatively. Goku shifted closer once again, clearly trying to catch my attention but I was otherwise occupied. There was no need for me to waste my time with a married man when a completely unattached one was interested in me. I had gone from having one option, Vic, to having a few. It felt kind of nice.

“You look beautiful as usual,” Craig said. He straightened up and offered a hand to Goku. “Erin tells me you’re Naomi’s brother. It’s very nice to meet you. I hope we can all get along and be friends.”

“You could say we’re closer than any siblings ever dreamed.”

The two men shook hands and I grimaced at Goku’s comment. He seemed nice and rather innocent but he was capable of some really underhanded insinuations. Still, us being siblings was easier to explain than us being permanently bound together from a freak accident involving another dimension. The whole thing with Goku being married would just make everything even worse. I didn’t know what I’d do if Craig ever came to my apartment and saw Goku and I sleeping together…

“Goku’s apartment was flooded so he’s staying with Nome until he can find a new place,” Erin said. “They’re so cute, sharing the same bed and everything. It’s adorable.”

“A brother’s love knows no bounds,” Goku added.

“I always thought you only had Sophie and Oliver,” Craig said, neatly ignoring Goku’s comment. “Is he adopted? You two don’t really look alike.”

“He struggled with drug addiction,” Erin chimed in.

“Yeah… drug addiction.” I wasn’t very happy about having to make up such an intricate lie but Craig would run for the hills if he knew what was really going on. And Erin had rehearsed it so well that I didn’t want to break her heart letting the cat out of the bag.

Craig nodded empathetically and put his arm around my shoulders, turning me back towards my car. “You can tell me all about it over dinner tomorrow night if you’d like. I need to break in my new stove so I’d be happy to have some nice company over for the evening. What do you think?”

Something stung at my insides and I almost lost my footing, but Craig caught me in time. My eyes flashed to Goku and I saw him hiding his face, hands clenched into fists at his sides. Was he mad? He had no right to be angry. I deserved the same happiness he had with his own wife. I wasn’t going to be pushed into some weird love triangle.

“I could come over a bit early and help you cook,” I offered. “I’m kind of bad but we could make an entire mess and spend the whole night cleaning it up.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” He opened the driver’s door for me and leaned on it, looking thoughtful. “How have your nightmares gotten? Been able to sleep or are you still up all night? I talked to a few doctors when I moved down to NYC and they might be able to help you.”

“It’s been resolved,” Goku said before ducking into the car.

Craig looked at me curiously and I shook my head, quickly taking my seat at the steering wheel. Goku was already in the passenger seat so the other three had to sit in the back which left them very much crammed together. The drive to Vapor wasn’t wholly unpleasant, though. It was nice catching up with Craig and Erin helped stimulate our conversation. He was a very pleasant man who I could have potentially seen myself falling in love with after a while. Goku stared out the window.

Vapor was ten times louder on the outside than the inside. I parked in the back and we all made our way to the club, with Goku hanging back a bit. As we neared the doors I felt a tug in my gut and turned to see he had disappeared, hopefully not too far away. He was acting strange but I didn’t have time to ask why. Craig looped his arm in mine and led me inside, soon branching us away from Erin and Ed. I stuck close to him as we made our way through the packed club to the bar. The tugging slackened and I noticed Goku sitting not too far away at a table, stirring a drink with a tiny straw. His eyes were locked on Craig.

“How’s work been?” Craig asked, leaning close so I could hear him. “Erin told me you two are still working at the office with Vic.”

“It’s okay, just not terribly exciting. But I guess that’s my favorite part about it. What about you? I thought you found a better job down in NYC? Why come all the way back up North where it’s constantly cold and smells like seawater?”

“City life isn’t what I thought it would be. Luckily there’s always a need for lawyers in small towns. It doesn’t pay very well but there are other things I missed about Kennebunk.” 

When I glanced at Craig from the corner of my eye I noticed he was staring at me pointedly. The bartender placed a mojito in front of me and gave Craig a beer so I quickly started sipping my drink, suddenly feeling extremely nervous. Did he really come back for me? We had gotten along really well but I didn’t think he cared that much. Our relationship had been intense and short lived, which was really my favorite style of dating.

The mojitos started adding up and soon I was tipsy enough to dance. I led Craig to the crowded dance floor and saw Erin and Ed not too far away, dancing and laughing. If they were drunk too that meant Craig had to be the designated driver. I felt his hands on me and his hot breath on the back of my neck, stopped worrying and started dancing as best I could. It was difficult when my appendages didn’t want to do what my brain said. Thankfully Craig found it amusing and laughed when I stumbled or couldn’t keep up with his movements.

My stomach wasn’t on board with me writhing around. Combined with the heat I was worried I’d end up puking all over my date, so I excused myself and stumbled to the hall where the bathrooms were. I stood outside the women’s room and closed my eyes, trying to relax and not vomit everywhere. It was a bit cooler than the dance floor so some of the heat from Craig’s body evaporated. Suddenly, the tugging went slack and I opened my eyes to see Goku standing a few feet away from me.

Annoyed, I straightened up and fixed my shirt. “What do you want? Aren’t you busy sitting in the corner being a sour puss?”

“You look like you’re gonna be sick.”

“No I don’t. You don’t have to a jerk for no reason. It’s not my fault all this happened, so why don’t you just go home to your wife and leave me alone?”

Goku took a sip of his drink, studying me intently with his grey eyes. He didn’t seem affected by my insults but they weren’t really that impressive. I wasn’t drunk enough to be truly angry but just drunk enough to say stupid things. My expression dropped into a scowl and I tried pushing past him to make my way back to the dance floor, but Goku easily blocked my path. The hall was narrow. Too narrow.

“You’re really lucky I can’t get drunk,” Goku said, “or I wouldn’t be able to bring you home when you’ve had too much.”

When he moved to scoop me up I jumped back like I’d been zapped by a livewire. Who did he think he was, my father? He had no right to tell me I’d had too much and bring me home. Erin and I didn’t get out much so I liked having a good time when we did. Besides, there were other people who were way drunker than me. I smacked the drink out of Goku’s hand so it shattered on the floor, spraying my sneakers with a few drops of alcohol. He raised an eyebrow.

“You’re just jealous,” I seethed. “You’ve been glaring at Craig all night and you have no right to. I don’t even know why you would, considering you’re married.” I stuck a finger in his chest, hesitating a bit when I felt the solid muscle underneath. “You’re… you’re a jerk! Leave me alone and let me do what I want or you can kiss this all goodbye. Got that, pal?”

“I know how men are and I don’t want you to be upset. I can feel it, you know. You don’t know how to sense energy so you don’t know what it’s like feeling another person’s sadness like it’s your own.”

“Mind your own business. This is a relationship of necessity and I don’t need you parenting me. Craig came all the way from New York to be with me because he was lonely there. Why else would he come back? This is a pretty big city but it doesn’t have THAT much to offer. Just because we have to sleep together doesn’t mean I’m dropping everything for you.”

“I’m just trying to protect you,” Goku said. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“I don’t need protection. Leave me alone.”

Goku suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me very close, all traces of concern gone. “You’re a very nice woman, Nome—”

“For the love of god, it’s NAOMI.”

“—And I would hate to see you get hurt. Take it from someone who’s spent his entire life fighting bad guys. I can pick them out in a crowd and the minute I saw him I knew something was wrong. He seems nice but wait until you’re alone with him. He’ll ask you out, yes, make you nice dinners, play the game how he was to until the right moment comes. You won’t admit it but you knew something wasn’t right when you two were dating before. I could feel your energy going all over the place.”

Everything came flooding back to me at Goku’s prompting. It hadn’t been Craig who ended our relationship. It was me. 

He had been a gentleman for the first month but things became hairy after that. He’d insisted on us living together and constantly called or texted me to check up on how I was doing. When I wanted to go out he had to come. Thankfully I had seen the warning signs and ended it before things could get worse but what if he had come back to finish what he started? Men like that didn’t like losing so easily. I’d never told Erin or anyone else about how strangely Craig had acted. It didn’t seem important.

Still, it had been so long ago that I couldn’t remember the exact details. Maybe I had been overreacting to him and he was just very protective of me. I shook free of Goku and gave him a dirty look before proceeding back to the dance floor. There was a tug and I grimaced—he’d gone pretty far away. It wasn’t enough to leave me out of breath but it would cause the intense longing I had mistaken for insomnia for all these years. I grabbed a drink off a waiter’s tray and downed it.

It was gonna be a long night.


	7. Chapter 7

_Wherever I was, it was cold._

_Stone walls were all around me suggesting I was in some sort of castle. It wasn’t hard to guess I was in another painfully vivid dream—I rubbed the goose bumps away from my arms and shivered. There was no way I’d escape until I saw the entire thing through, for better or worse. Maybe this time it’d have a pleasant ending rather than the terrifying one I always experienced. I looked around the little room I was in and picked up a blanket to wrap myself in before pushing open a heavy wooden door._

_Two creatures were sitting in front of a fire, watching it quietly. I had a feeling they didn’t know I was hanging around so I hid behind my door and watched them curiously. They weren’t human—one had horns curving out of his skull and the other (which appeared to be female) had pointed ears. From what I could see they both had glowing red eyes and fangs curving from their mouths. Demons? I’d seen a lot of strange things throughout my sleepless life but these were a first._

_The female one scooped up a wine glass and admired the golden liquid within, smiling vaguely. “Everything is going according to plan, Scoria. We’ve almost connected our world with theirs. Soon they will both belong to us and all will tremble at our power. It took quite a while for Goku to find her energy again but he’s always been a curious soul.”_

_“Patience, Fiamme. A few more years makes no difference to us.”_

_The sound of Scoria’s voice made my skin crawl. He had his clawed hands clasped neatly before him like a perfect gentleman, gazing quietly at the flickering flames. Whatever plans they were discussing only meant bad things for Earth. How did they know about Goku and I? Did they have any idea what happened between us? I wanted to know more but I really wanted to wake up and never see their faces again. But I knew that wasn’t gonna happen._

_“I just can’t wait to crush them,” Fiamme said. “You’ve been teasing me with this for so long. How do we know when it’s the right moment to strike?”_

_“When our worlds are connected.”_

_“But they already are, Scoria. Oh, you’re such a scoundrel!”_

_Scoria’s eyes suddenly flickered to me and I froze. He smiled._

_“We need a catalyst.”_

Whoever was sleeping beside me woke up with a gasp that was even louder than mine. I winced and immediately fell back, crippled by the beginnings of a hangover. My bedroom was still dark and Peter was curled up at the foot of the bed, one eye open to study me curiously. As I struggled to catch my breath I realized it had been Goku sleeping beside me and he was equally as shaken by the nightmare. We were connected to one another and in turn connected to someone else. Someone dangerous.

Goku collapsed beside me, his broad chest heaving. “You had the same vision?”

“Yes. It wasn’t an accident, though. Whoever it was did it deliberately to scare us.” I looked around, mildly disappointed that Craig was nowhere to be seen. Had he bailed on me? Did I puke on him? Or did we have sex while Goku was sitting in the living room?

“Don’t worry, I brought you home after you fainted in the middle of the dance floor,” Goku said. “Craig insisted on taking you back but I wouldn’t let him. I never will. Anyway, you’ve been passed out for a few hours so I finally decided to go to bed myself. Lo and behold, we both have the same nightmare. I wonder if it’s gonna happen every night like the last one because I really need to sleep.”

“Oh. Well sorry to inconvenience you like that. It won’t happen again, sir.”

“Don’t be so grouchy, Nome. We just saw two demon people talking about crushing both of our worlds. I think we both have some research to do instead of arguing about your boy troubles.”

I scowled when Goku got out of bed without even glancing at me. “Boy troubles? Excuse me? I don’t have any boy troubles. You’re the one causing me problems. Everything was fine before you showed up and demanded to sleep in my bed. How about you sleep on the floor from now on, hm? You’re really hot so you make me sweat like crazy.”

“Thank you very much for the compliment.”

We walked out to the kitchen with Peter right behind us, hoping he would get some cheese. I angrily got myself a glass of water from the sink and drank it without looking away from Goku as he helped himself to a bag of pretzels. He smiled at me and leaned on the counter, munching on his snack like he didn’t have a care in the world. We had both just had the same vision about demons destroying our planets and he was more concerned with making stupid jabs about my man troubles.

I tapped my nails on the counter, trying to rein in my irritation. So what if he had a point? I was torn between two men right now. Technically three if you wanted to count Goku but since when was he in the equation? He was married. That left Vic and Craig, who were both pretty nice. Vic was kind of awkward and older but Craig could have been a closeted clingy, obsessive boyfriend who might try to kill my family if I chose them over him. He was also attractive and young. Why couldn’t they all just be completely normal and sane? 

“We’re going to my world,” Goku said, finishing up the rest of the pretzels. “My other son and wife probably miss me as much as I miss them so I’d like to spend next week there. I’ve already talked to your boss—Vic was his name?—and he’s more than happy to accommodate your hectic schedule. When we come back you’re free to do whatever you want for the next week, whether it’s hanging around an old guy or getting drunk at a shady club.”

“I am not going anywhere. Craig and I need to catch up at dinner. Besides, I need to apologize for being such an irresponsible date last night.”

“Craig can wait. We’ll go back to sleep and head there in the morning so I can see my family again. I’ve been pretty accommodating for you; it would be polite for you to do the same.” 

“Aren’t we gonna discuss the vision we both had?” I asked when he started to walk away.

Goku shrugged. “There’s nothing we can do about it. I’ve never heard of Fiamme or Scoria and I have no clue where they could possibly be. Probably somewhere in my world but I didn’t detect an energy signature I could trace back to the source. Gotta tell ya, I haven’t felt that afraid since I fought Frieza on planet Namek. Anywho, let’s go back to sleep so you’re refreshed for our trip.”

It was true that there was nothing we could do but I still hated to sit around ignorantly, hoping for something to happen. What did they mean by our worlds connecting? They already had. Goku and I met, we knew each other’s histories and people from Goku’s realm had come to mine. Maybe the more we went back and forth the bigger a hole we would rip between our dimensions until they merged into one. Yet I couldn’t get Scoria’s last glance at me out of my head. It was especially eerie.

After we were nestled back in bed and I had closed my eyes, I heard Goku laughing beside me. He was lying on his back with his arms behind his head, clearly without a care in the world. When he noticed my inquiring expression he shook his head and gestured around the dark room.

“It’s all too strange, isn’t it?” Goku asked. “A man and woman from two very different worlds with two completely opposing personalities become tethered together by a freak accident and are forced to live together or risk death. It’s like trying to make sand stick to water. Why us? Why this kind of situation? Making us sleep together every night, only letting me sense your energy in this place… maybe I’m thinking too much. It could all be coincidence.”

“It’s just the price we pay for ripping a hole through two dimensions. No big deal.”

My sleeping partner didn’t respond. I turned away and shut my eyes again, desperately hoping I wouldn’t be confronted by the freaky demon pair drinking champagne in their cold dungeon. Tomorrow I’d be meeting Goku’s wife, who was probably a supermodel, and his youngest son. Absolutely no pressure. None at all.


	8. Chapter 8

“Trunks, Goten! Leave Naomi alone! She just had to cross an inter-dimensional portal and I bet she doesn’t want to wake up to you two staring at her.”

Conscious slowly dawned upon me and I groggily opened my eyes to see two little boys sitting directly in front of me, both grinning hugely. Alarmed, I flew up in bed and nearly fell off the other side but a pair of strong arms grabbed me before I collapsed and set me gently back on the sheets. I rubbed my eyes a few times to make sure I was seeing the kids right on not dreaming. One was a photocopy of Goku, just much smaller and the other seemed to have purple hair. He looked a lot like the Vegeta guy—they even had the same permanently pissed off eyebrows.

Behind them stood a woman with teal hair and glasses who was giving a strange smirk to the man still holding me. I wriggled free and turned to see Goku sitting behind me with his legs crossed, rubbing the back of his head and yawning. The kid who I assumed was Goten leapt up on the bed and crept forward to study me with black eyes while his little friend remained behind to watch from a distance. I was wearing some bright orange clothes that were way too big for me.

The woman switched her attention to me and smiled. “Hello, Naomi, it’s very nice to meet you. My name is Bulma Briefs and I’m a scientist at Capsule Corporation. But I guess Goku should give you the grand tour of our world before I start filling your head with that nonsense. You’ve already met Gohan, Videl and Vegeta, who are all very excited that you’re here. Chi-Chi had to run some errands but she’ll be back when we all have dinner tonight at my place. How are you feeling?”

“Uh… fine,” I said. “Did we come here while I was asleep?”

“I was getting impatient,” Goku said, laughing. He sounded strangely excited.

Everything seemed brighter in their world and I realized Goku was right about my reality being much more somber. Birds chirped outside, sunlight streamed through the windows and nothing felt foreboding. If I didn’t have so many obligations back home I would’ve loved to go on a permanent vacation to Goku’s realm but I couldn’t leave my family behind. I rolled up the ludicrously long sleeves of the outfit I was in and Bulma snickered a bit.

“Your clothes were torn when you crossed the boundary,” she explained. “I made special ones for Goku so he wouldn’t come to your world naked and I have some set aside back home for you, too. I’d love to cross over the next time you two leave so I can see what it’s like. It’ll be great for my research.”

“Bulma loves her science stuff!” Goku said. “Thankfully she’s smart because I have no clue how any of this works. I just got some of my old training clothes so they’re kinda big. But Chi-Chi is great and keeps them clean for me so you don’t have to worry about that. Where do you wanna go first, Nome? We’re at Mt. Paozu in my house but we can go to Satan City.”

“Let me get my bearings. I’m really not in a rush to be going anywhere.” I climbed out of bed and tightened the blue sash around my waist.

“Let’s all go swimming!” said Goten, leaping so high into the air it looked like he was flying. 

“Can we get food first? I’m starving!” Goku grimaced comically and rubbed his stomach, causing his son and Trunks to laugh while Bulma rolled her eyes.

Was he overtired or did I meet a completely different guy back in my world? I didn’t feel any different but Goku had pulled a complete 180. He was mildly naïve and good-natured most days yet here he was acting like a doofus while two kids tried to wrestle him to the ground. I was probably thinking too much again. It could have been an act around the children—I’d have to wait until they were gone to see if I had been mistaken about him in the first place.

Bulma left with the boys a few minutes later and I was once again alone with Goku in a totally foreign place. He rose from the bed and stretched his arms to the ceiling, incidentally touching it with the tips of his fingers, then cracked his neck. I waited patiently for him to explain his change of behavior but he just yawned again and scratched the back of his head, apparently waiting for me to lead the way out of the bedroom. I folded my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

Goku shuffled past me to a small bathroom within his room. “What? Are you upset I saw you naked? Most of your underwear was intact; it was really just your pants and shirt. I don’t remember it, anyway.” He opened a reflective cabinet to grab a toothbrush and began vigorously cleaning his mouth, gesturing to an open box of new toothbrushes.

“I wasn’t concerned about that until you mentioned it,” I muttered, taking a red brush and spreading some toothpaste on it. “Why are you sunshine and rainbows when they’re around? Happy to be back home or is there something else you’re not sharing with me?”

“It’s personal.”

“Sleeping next to me every night and coming on to me in my bedroom is personal, too.” I paused in brushing and looked at him sourly. “So is seeing my half naked and putting your clothes on me. I better not find any suspicious stains if you know what I’m saying. That won’t make me very happy.”

“Look, it’s just part of who I am and we’ll leave it at that. I try not to fall out of it but sometimes I slip up, usually when I’m mad. I’d appreciate it if you’d play along so I don’t have any more aggravating concerns on my plate. My wife is coming home tonight and she won’t be happy if she figures this out on top of meeting the woman I’m sleeping with every night. By the way, you’re sleeping on the floor.”

“Hell no! I will be happily sandwiched between you and your wife tonight.”

“You’ll be staying in Goten’s room and he can share with Gohan. I haven’t seen my wife for a while and… you know how that is, right?” Goku winked and nudged me with his elbow.

“Way too much information,” I said, reaching across the sink to put my toothbrush in the holder. “But I guess I should have seen it coming, based on how you pinned me down on my bed the other night. Is this your bedroom? Wasn’t she sleeping here last night? That must’ve been a rude surprise.”

A faint smile twitched Goku’s lips. “Chi-Chi wasn’t happy but she understands. The other night was a lapse in judgment and nothing more, so stop mentioning it. I’m not gonna get involved in your personal life and you don’t get involved in mine, so you can enjoy Craig as much as you want and I’ll continue to enjoy my wife. Sound good?” 

Goku left the tiny bathroom and headed out to the bedroom to put on some new clothes. I stared at him irately and waited by the door with my back turned until he was ready, wearing the same outfit I was. He grabbed my arm and performed his trick, landing us outside a huge, perfect semi-circular building. Big letters read “CAPSULE CORP” so I assumed it was where Bulma lived, perhaps with Vegeta. The Trunks kid looked a lot like him so it was possible they were together.

The door to the place suddenly burst open and a woman came running out so fast I could only make our a blur of black hair as she sped past me. She leapt on Goku and hugged him fiercely, hanging on tightly when he spun her around and laughed. Gohan and Videl emerged from the house next and the latter ran up to greet me with some cookies she had helped Chi-Chi make. They didn’t look edible but I took one anyway and stomached a few bites in an attempt to be polite. Videl was definitely not a homemaker. 

Chi-Chi was finally set down by her husband and the two kissed like no one else was around, making Gohan groan in embarrassment. There was an irritated prickling on my spine when I saw them and I quickly turned away to nibble on my burnt cookie. No, I wasn’t jealous. What was there to be jealous of? Chi-Chi was pretty and she had two perfect sons and a perfect husband but I wasn’t envious in the least. I was content dating all sorts of weirdoes while everyone else in my life was settled and happy.

“Chi-Chi, this is Naomi,” Videl finally said, handing the plate of cookies to her boyfriend. She spun me around so I was facing Chi-Chi. “She’s from the other world. Cool, right?”

“It would be ‘cool’ if she wasn’t trotting around in my husband’s clothes,” Chi-Chi said without casting me a second glance. She picked a few pieces of lint off Goku’s shoulder. “You should probably bring her inside and get something more appropriate on those skinny bones of hers. Goku and I are going to pick up Goten and bring him back here for dinner.”

“We can’t go very far,” Goku said sheepishly. “It kinda causes both of us pain when we’re too far apart so I don’t want to risk anything bad happening.”

“If you can tolerate being pummeled by aliens then I think you’ll be okay being away from your little… friend,” Chi-Chi said. “Are we going? I’d like to find our son before it gets too late.”

“Well, gee, Chi. I know this is hard but it’s really not safe for us to be—”

“I meant now,” Chi-Chi said.

Goku sighed and placed two fingertips to his forehead, taking Chi-Chi’s small hand in his free one. He squeezed his eyes shut and was gone in a flash, leaving me behind to deal with the ripple effect. I yelped when a cold punch landed right in my stomach but Videl caught me with ease and waited until I caught my breath to let me stand up again. I grimaced at the dull, painful ache deep in my gut. How had I ever lived with it before? It was almost unbearable.

“Chi-Chi’s a little rough around the edges sometimes,” Videl said. “Why don’t you come in and lie down for a while? Bulma put some tea on and she’s dying to hear about what your world is like. Gohan, want to help me carry Naomi inside?”

The bodybuilding teenager nodded and picked me up like I was a sack of feathers, throwing me over his shoulder a bit roughly. We went inside and he carefully placed me on the couch before excusing himself to help Bulma with dinner. Videl sat beside me and offered me another cookie which I quickly refused, then tightened the braids holding her thick black hair in place. She had a unique alien beauty I had never seen in my realm and I kind of wanted to tell her she could go places with her looks.

I swallowed, afraid to broach the uncomfortable subject of Goku and I’s relationship. We were by no means together but he had hinted a few times that he was mildly interested in me, which is why it hurt so badly to see his wife all over him when we were due to finally meet. Why was I surprised, though? If they were married for twenty years with two kids that meant they had to be happy together in some regard. Goku hadn’t been himself the night in my bedroom. He was trying to stay away from me now.

“Look, I’m not good with this girly stuff,” Videl said suddenly, adjusting her plain white shirt. It looked more like an oversized dress. “But you seem like a reasonable person and if you ever want to talk about something I’m more than willing to listen. Just no nail-painting. Or cooking.”

“You’re pretty forward,” I said.

“I don’t like beating around the bush. Anyway, don’t let Chi-Chi bother you too much. Of course she’s upset but she’ll get used to it after a while. Bulma’s getting closer every day to splitting you and Goku apart which means you just have to relax and enjoy having a mini vacation at Mt. Paozu. Well, technically this is Satan City now, named after my father but whatever. Who needs details?”

“Did you meet my friend, Erin? Because I think you two would get along marvelously. She can be kind of boy-crazy and girly but you’re both kind of… blunt.”

“When you and Goku head back I’ll drag Gohan over and we can all have an inter-dimensional get-together.” Videl smiled and stuffed one of the cookies in her mouth. “Sparring is fun over in you world. Our energy is suppressed so we’re kind of normal like you guys but we can still beat the hell out of each other. It’s hard keeping up with a group of male Saiyans when you’re a normal human—”

“What’s a Saiyan?” I asked.

Videl noticed her gaffe and backtracked as fast as she could, turning the conversation back to her own world, the place she had known since she was young. The throbbing pain subsided for a moment as I turned the new word over in my mind: Saiyan. What could it mean?


	9. Chapter 9

Within the hour I was feeling well enough to tour Capsule Corp. Bulma immediately brought me upstairs to give me the clothes she had set aside to cross dimensions—they looked pretty normal and I was more than happy to swap Goku’s clothes out for them. Videl accompanied us on the walk to make sure I didn’t suddenly pass out from the strained connection between Goku and I. Admittedly, it hurt like hell, but I wasn’t too keen on being whiny and demanding in the face of their generous hospitality. 

We viewed the different rooms of the house, of which there were seven, alongside five bathrooms and another whole living room in the center of the second floor. They had a unique sense of style; almost futuristic and I found myself feeling more at home there than I did in my own world. Thinking of home still made me miss my parents and Erin dearly. I couldn’t wait to go back and embrace simplicity again for a while. Traveling back and forth was gonna become a pain very quickly.

Bulma brought us to her gigantic laboratory as the last stop. The frantic tugging in my gut vanished to make room for awe as I was confronted with massive supercomputers and human-sized test tubes. I wandered around, admiring the incredible technology and noticed Vegeta sitting in a chair by a small computer, eyes closed and arms crossed. It confirmed my suspicions that he and Bulma were together but I couldn’t say I was surprised. They were very alike in so many ways yet different enough to make something between them work. I was looking at tiny capsules when I felt a severe yank that nearly knocked me over.

Videl rescued me yet again and I heard Bulma make an annoyed noise followed by muttering about Chi-Chi being rude. I was placed in a chair like a broken doll and gnashed my teeth together to keep from yelping when the pulling intensified as if I was trying to rip out some of my internal organs. Videl patted my shoulder encouragingly and took a seat next to Bulma, who was typing away at one of the computers. It brought up a simulated green diagram and I could make out a tiny red pinprick near the center that kept flashing and moving.

“I’ve taken the ability to sense power levels to a whole new level,” Bulma said. “This computer can seek out energy across the known universe and tell me where that specific person is. Of course, it’s much easier with a Goku because he has the most prominent marker but I suppose it would be useful with others. He and Chi-Chi are on Namek now which is pretty far away. I hope they come back soon.”

“It doesn’t look like this is very good for Naomi,” Videl said.

“Tell me about it,” I said through gritted teeth. “This is the worst pain I’ve ever felt.”

“The universe is mysterious. We can only guess at why it chose to tether you and Goku together.” Bulma leaned back in her chair, tapping her chin. “I think it was to keep the universe from rupturing at the point where Goku entered your realm but I could be wrong. Whatever the reason, it really wants you two together. And I mean close together.”

Vegeta laughed, making the first noise since our encounter in my world. “Now Kakarot has forced this woman into a life of misery and envy. Humans are such petty creatures.”

The tugging suddenly slackened, making me fall forward like I’d been cut from a taut rope. Goku appeared in a flash of light with Goten on his shoulders and his wife on his arm. He let out a gasp and Goten immediately hopped off his back but Chi-Chi moved closer, feeling his forehead with the back of her palm. I was panting heavily in my chair while Videl rubbed my back carefully. It was understandable that Chi-Chi felt threatened but she had to be delusional if she thought her husband was sick.

Vegeta snickered at Goku’s pale face until Bulma shot him a seething glare, making him turn back to looking at the floor. My heart pattered faintly in my chest and I shook as I readjusted myself in the chair, trying to relax before I had a stroke. Goku took a seat when Videl offered it to him then she left to get Gohan from the living room. Chi-Chi stood behind him, rubbing his shoulders with her bony hands while he continued to breathe like he had run a marathon. I felt terribly out of place.

“Where did you two go?” Bulma asked, giving Goku an expectant look.

“Around,” Chi-Chi replied. “Goten was playing in the city so it was hard to find him. Then he wanted to go to Namek to see how they were all faring and I couldn’t say no.”

“Interesting. Well, Goku and Naomi should probably rest for a bit before we have dinner. They both look abysmal.” Bulma patted my shoulder and turned her attention to Videl, neatly avoiding Chi-Chi’s angry expression. “Why don’t you bring Naomi upstairs, Videl? Gohan can help his father.”

My new friend nodded quickly, apparently not willing to disagree with Bulma. Videl slipped one arm underneath mine and helped me to my feet, easily supporting most of my weight. Gohan did the same with his father and we left the lab, leaving behind a fuming Chi-Chi and smirking Vegeta. We made our way through the huge building to the second floor and our escorts dropped us off in a room down the hall. Gohan paused on the way out to smile at me but Videl dragged him out before I could smile back.

Goku hobbled to the bed and collapsed on his stomach, sighing with relief into the sheets. I awkwardly sat beside him and lay on my back to stare at the ceiling. Most of the pain was gone and I could breathe again but I didn’t want to question Bulma and hurry back downstairs. Besides, Goku and I needed to talk about his wife separating us so far it nearly tore us in half. 

“So how was your trip?” I asked.

One of Goku’s grey eyes opened. “Sorry about that. Chi-Chi wanted to be far away so we could talk. It hurts me, too, when it happens. You can’t blame her for being upset.”

“No, but I can blame her for causing me unnecessary pain. Make sure she knows we’re not involved and we never will be. I personally can’t wait to go home and see Craig again. A cross-dimensional relationship isn’t my idea of a good time.”

“Chi-Chi’s a woman. All she sees is a girl half her age hanging around her husband. If this situation was reversed I’d be pretty upset. I think. Just try to be empathetic and let it go if she says anything. We’re only here for a few more days then we’ll go back to your world.”

“Whatever. The faster Bulma breaks us apart, the better.”

“Hey, don’t say that. I still like being friends with you, regardless of what happens between us. My wife is a little jealous; so what? She’ll get over it and everything’s gonna be fine.”

“You two are married. She isn’t gonna suck it up and let you sleep with another woman every night. Of course she’s worried. You weren’t exactly hit with the ugly stick and you’re more or less a decent guy. You slipped up once in my room but it wasn’t that bad and we stopped. I’d be concerned about losing someone like that to a random chick from a different world.”

My outburst seemed to energize Goku. He pushed himself up on his elbow to look at me, now turned on his side and facing my direction. A big grin spread across his face and widened when I blushed and covered my eyes with my forearm. I’d done very few bad things in my life and I didn’t want to add “homewrecker” to my nearly spotless record. Craig was waiting for me at home and it looked like the two of us could really make it work this time around.

“The truth comes out,” Goku said. “I knew you were attracted to me!”

“Obviously. Like I said, you’re by no means ugly and we sleep together every damn night. It’s gonna make me have mild—very mild—feelings for you. Don’t let it go to your head and don’t tell anyone. It’s purely physical attraction anyway. I’m sure I’ll feel different when Craig and I are together.”

“Sorry, it’s just a little exciting. Chi-Chi and I married when we were young and I don’t know many women besides her so hearing other women say I’m attractive is kind of neat.”

“Neat? What are you, twelve?”

“Only when I have to be. I’ve kinda grown out of it but it makes everyone happy so I just play along as best as I can. You’re not ugly, either. You’re really pretty. It isn’t easy sleeping next to you most nights. But all I have to do is think about Chi-Chi or Goten and everything goes away.”

“Terrific. I’m gonna go back downstairs and eat before I pass out.”

When I started to prop myself up on my elbows Goku was on top of me again, pressing his chest so close to mine I could feel his heartbeat. He studied me for a few seconds with a ravenous curiosity; it was like he really depended on what he saw in my eyes. My brow furrowed irately when he didn’t move after a few moments and developed into a scowl when his eyes traveled to my lips.

“This needs to not happen anymore,” I said. “You’re not gonna pin me down whenever you feel like it.”

“I’m not pinning you down, just preventing your escape for a minute. It’s a completely different concept. You’re getting too caught up in the details, Nome.”

“There’s nothing to escape from. I’m hungry and I’m going to get some food in my stomach.”

Goku leaned closer, causing me to lean back further on the bed. “But it doesn’t bother you that I’m so much older than you are? I know I look to be around your age. I think about that sometimes and it baffles me. Humans are weird creatures… after all these years I thought I’d be used to them.”

“That reminds me,” I said, starting to sweat, “what’s a Saiyan? Videl mentioned it in the lab.”

“You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Hmm, what could be worse than you being from a realm other than my own? I think I can handle a few more surprises, Goku.”

“It’s just a race of primitive warrior aliens. They… I mean, we… conquered planets and sold them on an intergalactic black market. No big deal, really. Aliens are pretty common in my world. Most of them mind their own business but if they try to mess with Earth they have to answer to me and my friends. Anyway, it just means I’m strong and technically should have a monkey tail.”

My face must have betrayed my shock because Goku frowned and leaned back to give me my space. Aliens existed? Maybe they didn’t in my world but apparently they did in Goku’s. That explained why he looked a bit odd to me—he was an alien for Christ’s sake. That meant his sons were half alien and Vegeta must have been one, too. Could that have to do with us meeting one another? His race could’ve broken the barrier between our worlds to conquer us. 

I swallowed hard. No, I needed to get a grip. No one was trying to conquer my planet besides the weird demons I had seen in my vision. Something was holding them back, though. They were waiting for a specific event to completely bind our worlds together. Right now only Goku could truly pass between worlds of his own accord. He could bring passengers but I had a feeling such trips came at a price. It was a boundary only he and I were meant to cross. But why? Why us?

Something told me we wouldn’t have an answer to that question until it was too late.

Goku sat beside me with a very nervous look on his face. “I’m sorry, I just told you a lot of things very quickly. It’s getting hard to refuse you.”

“I’m… surprised, but I think I’ll be okay. You being from a parallel dimension is the weirdest thing I’ll ever hear. Let’s go downstairs and have some dinner with everyone else. I can stay here tonight so you and Chi-Chi can be alone, alright? I’m too lazy to do more traveling today.”

“Chi-Chi is bringing Goten to a piano teacher over at the next city. She’s gonna be gone for the rest of the week. It’s okay, she said it’s fine if you stay with me. It’s strictly platonic; I promise I won’t bother you at all. Otherwise neither of us will be sleeping.”

“That’s fine,” I said, rising to my feet. “I’m gonna uh… go downstairs now.”

Somber grey eyes watched me leave the room and head into the hallway. When I reached the stairs, I felt an uncomfortable tug and realized Goku had relocated somewhere relatively far away. Why was he suddenly so stressed about me?


	10. Chapter 10

Dinner was pleasant and filling. Videl explained to me how she and Gohan met while we ate our boiled pterodactyl breast and he refused to look at me, keeping his eyes focused on his meal. It wasn’t the boyish awkwardness that came with a crush—Gohan knew something he was trying desperately to hide from me. Both he and Videl knew it but Videl was better at hiding it. Whatever they knew had to be majorly important because Goku let them all know he told me who Saiyans were. 

My eyes occasionally flickered to Goku and Chi-Chi seated with Bulma and Vegeta further up the table. Goku didn’t even glance at me throughout the course of the meal, instead focusing on playing the part of the dopey but lovable hero. His wife rested on his arm after we were all done eating and he leaned over to kiss the top of her head with an oddly saddened look on his face. The waiters came around to pick up our dishes and I was a free woman once again soon headed to bed with a married man.

Chi-Chi left with Goten soon after without saying a word to me and everyone moved to the living room for coffee and butter cookies. I was beyond exhausted at that point so Goku mercifully teleported us away from Capsule Corp to the home he shared with his wife and sons. Our proper goodbyes were spread around along with promises that we would be back early in the morning to have breakfast. Bulma seemed to pay special attention to us leaving, gauging Goku’s face with her steely blue eyes every few seconds. Yes, they all knew something they weren’t telling us.

When we were upstairs getting ready for bed I decided to broach the subject with Goku. He had no qualms about stripping in front of me—which I didn’t particularly mind but maybe it meant he trusted me a little bit. He might agree with me that something was going on right under our noses. Between the weird looks from Gohan and the vision of demons I wasn’t sure what balance Goku and I had upset. I fingered the orange training shirt he had given me to sleep in and cleared my throat.

“Have you noticed the way Bulma looks at you?” I asked.

The Saiyan turned to face me with a cocked eyebrow, showing off his absolutely perfect chest. “Don’t tell me you’re getting jealous. It’s okay if you have a crush on me but don’t think you’re actually competing with other women for me. Honestly, Naomi. Be reasonable.”

“Not like that,” I said, averting my eyes to the ceiling. “She doesn’t look interested, just… I don’t know, excited? Curious? Gohan gave me a weird kinda look when he and Videl brought us upstairs. And don’t you think it’s weird that Bulma wanted us to go nap in the first place? Yeah we were a bit tired but why send us upstairs when Chi-Chi clearly didn’t want that to happen?”

“Well I guess Bulma’s never really been on board with Chi-Chi and I. She thinks we married too young and I’m just trying to be a good father.” Goku rubbed the back of his head. “It’s technically true but I really don’t mind being with Chi-Chi. She’s aggressive sometimes but I’ve put her through a lot over our years together and when I make a commitment, that’s final. I’ll be with her until she dies.”

“I was just curious. Geez, you need to relax. I think we should look into figuring out who those demons are before anything else. I know I had nothing planned for the rest of the week.”

“We can ask Bulma to look into it but like I said, after all my years in this universe I’ve never seen anything like them. We should worry about breaking our dimensions apart before something really bad happens. Our bond is becoming more and more intense the longer we wait. We’ll head over to Capsule Corp in the morning to see if she’s figured anything else out that might help us.”

“Those demon things might be what’s keeping us together. Didn’t you hear what they said? They want something out of us and then they’re gonna invade my world!”

Goku sat down on the bed and shrugged. He had opted out of wearing a shirt which meant I’d be stuck sleeping beside his half naked body yet again. I rolled my eyes and climbed behind him to lie down, facing the wall instead of looking at his face. But Goku remained sitting up, not moving or otherwise making any sounds. When my eyes drooped and I was about to fall asleep he spoke suddenly, like it had been waiting to come out of his mouth for days.

“I’m tired of saving the world,” he said.

My eyes unwillingly opened and I sat up to look at the back of Goku’s head. He was leaning forward, both big hands supporting his cheeks so he could gaze at the door. Suddenly he laughed; it was abrasive and unhappy, not mischievous as usual. I had heard snippets of him saving the world and possibly being immortal but I wasn’t sure if I believed it. I needed to just believe everything I heard from now on because most of it turned out to be true anyways. Aliens? Check. Parallel dimensions? Check. Immortal—

“My entire existence has hinged upon the fact that I’m the strongest being in the universe,” Goku continued. “I’m not the smartest but I’m a brute and that frightens everyone in the Other World. They like to think of me as a simpleton because if I was smart and powerful… well, I might try to conquer the universe. But I’m tired of it all. I want to be normal.  
The older I get the less I’m enjoying beating the hell out of my enemies and the more I want to be home with my sons. 

“I’ve died twice and left them behind both times. I feel obligated to protect this planet but it’s becoming so exhausting. Meeting you has made me realize nothing will ever be normal in my life. Some mistake I’ve made will always come back to haunt me in the end. Now Chi-Chi is so furious she doesn’t even want to share the same bed at night and Goten doesn’t know what to think. I’ve been a terrible father and husband all to protect an insignificant planet in an insignificant dimension.”

“Yeah, but think of all the innocent people you’ve saved from being needlessly destroyed. I’d give anything to have a life that’s constantly changing—I go to work at the same time, work the same hours, and go home to the same boredom.” I crawled forward and sat beside Goku so my legs were dangling off the bed. His feet rested on the floor. “You can’t blame yourself for how Chi-Chi is acting. All you can do is understand why she’s upset and give her time to figure things out. I’m sure after all this is resolved you’ll feel much better and you can go back to just spending time with them.”

Goku smiled weakly. “I guess you’re right. I’m just being a drama queen, that’s all. Having you around has some good points, though. I’d never be able to talk to anyone else about things like this. Chi-Chi would think I have a fever or something and everyone else would laugh. Are all the people from your world like you, or are you the exception?”

“There are good people,” I said. “They’re few and far between but they exist. So let’s go to bed and go see Bulma tomorrow to get this fixed. Who knows, maybe it’ll be done by the end of the week and we won’t have to keep traveling back and forth like this.”

One of Goku’s big hands patted my knee, completely obscuring it from view. My heart beat a little faster when he looked over at me and smiled even wider. He was so warm. Videl told me they all had fast metabolisms so their bodies were much hotter than our own but I hadn’t noticed it yet. Goku’s grasp tightened a bit and I started muttering about having a long week ahead of me. We were facing each other now, but I had my eyes trained on the bed sheets and he was staring at my lips again. 

_Don’t kiss the married guy_ , I thought to myself as Goku gradually moved closer. _Whatever you do, do not make out with the married alien from a different dimension. That will not work out well for you, Naomi. Think of Craig. He’s kind of clingy and controlling but he’s pretty attractive and smart. Doo dee doo dee doo, wait for the moment to pass and go to sleep. He’s gonna give up pretty soon._

“Remember when I said I think you’re pretty?” Goku murmured.

“Sure do,” I said, examining my nails.

“You are. Do you want to look up at me so I can show you?” He kissed my forehead and his hand grew even tighter around my kneecap. “Your energy is all over the place and you’re starting to leak pheromones. I have to be honest, I’m flattered.”

_No_ , my inner voice said in a panic. _No, no, no. Stop leaking pheromones, Naomi, you dumb bitch! You just came to this new world and you’re still trying to get in good with everyone. If you do this you’re gonna fuck everything up. Goku got over it before and he’ll do it again. Just slide yourself back and tell him you’re going to sleep. Don’t destroy everything._

When I attempted to get up and leave the boiling hot room Goku grabbed the back of my head and kissed me hard on the lips. My hands didn’t hesitate by my sides and immediately wound through the thick, black hair, pulling him closer until his tongue was in my mouth. He wasn’t too bad of a kisser—he took direction well and he tasted more or less like spearmint toothpaste which was much better than the weird animal we had eaten for dinner. My head was spinning and the voice inside it gave up. I was a lost cause. A homewrecker.

Soon I was pinned underneath Goku and I became aware of that the tugging in my gut had come back with an animalistic ferocity, demanding I get closer. It was a burning desire that threatened to consume me if I didn’t do what it wanted, but Goku was way ahead of me. His hands were under my shirt, struggling to get it off so we could satisfy the crazed yanking…

“Hi, daddy! Are you wrestling with Miss Naomi?”

Both of our heads turned to see Goten standing in the doorway with a big grin on his face. He had his hands clasped behind his back and watched his father quickly get off me and pull a shirt on. My own shirt had been ripped a bit during our encounter so I hid myself behind the sheets. Goku’s chest was heaving as he climbed out of bed and knelt down in front of his son, trying to communicate that what he had seen was not a big deal. I was humiliated beyond belief.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with mommy?” Goku asked.

“I had to grab my lesson book.” Goten peered over his father’s shoulder at me and smiled. “Were you winning, dad? You always win.”

“Goten, I need you to not tell anyone about this, okay? I’ll bring you out fishing as soon as you come back if you don’t say a word. Does that sound good?”

Goten’s brow furrowed before he agreed. His black eyes watched me as Goku escorted him from the room, probably to bring him out to his mother. I ran a hand through my hair and turned over to go to sleep. If I was lucky, I’d be passed out before Goku came back. There was no way I wanted to talk about what had just happened. We’d act like it was just part of a dream.


	11. 11

The rest of my week in Goku’s world went by painfully slow.

As expected, he acted as though nothing had happened and became even more withdrawn from me, choosing to spend the days sparring with Vegeta while I hung around with Videl and Gohan. We never went to Bulma’s to figure out what the demons were and I didn’t get a chance to ask why she had been giving us such strange looks. I tried to stay content asking questions about things Goku had mentioned, like Other World and the Dragon Balls. Videl was more than happy to answer them since I was considered ‘one of them’ by that point. Gohan filled me in on the Saiyans.

It was time to leave before I was ready to go. None of my most important questions had been answered and Goku looked forlorn when he teleported us back to my reality. I was afraid to touch his arm during the process: what if he thought I was trying something? Everyone besides Vegeta waved as we vanished into the space-time continuum, dragged back through dimensions until we arrived in my little apartment. Goku immediately teleported away again leaving me alone to my own devices.

There was a ton of messages on my cell phone from both Craig and Erin, who hadn’t known I was going to be gone for an entire week. I sent them both texts to let them know I was fine and Erin admitted to breaking into my apartment to take Peter home with her. I sighed with relief. My poor cat would’ve starved to death if Erin wasn’t so nosy. She let me know she was heading over and I made my way to the kitchen to make some tea and relax. I’d have to go back to work the next day so I wanted to take advantage of my last real day off.

Ten minutes later there was a knock on my door and I shuffled over to open it, expecting to see Erin holding Peter in her arms. Craig was standing there with a bouquet of roses in hand and a huge smile on his face. I made an excited kind of squealing noise and he laughed as he walked inside, resting his hands on the belt loops of his jeans. I shut the door and offered him some tea as he took a seat in the living room, which he politely declined. Forget Goku. I was swearing off married men.

“Erin and I were worried,” Craig said. “We thought something happened with your brother.”

“Oh, he just brought me on a surprise visit back home. It was nice seeing everyone again, anyway. We’re gonna go every other week. These roses are gorgeous!”

“I’m glad you like them. Are we doing dinner tonight?”

I walked out to the kitchen to trim the stems and put them in some water for a good drink. Dinner? Of course! I had been so busy with Goku I totally forgot I promised Craig we’d have dinner together. I nervously set the flowers up, wondering how Goku would react to me going ahead with Craig. He warned me it was a bad idea and he was pretty good at reading people. But what was the worst that could happen? Craig would be a little clingy sometimes? I could deal with that.

“Sure,” I said, bringing the vase of flowers out to the living room. I set them down on the coffee table and took a seat beside Craig. “Do you want to go out? Or we could do something here.”

“I’ll go home to get dinner ready and I’ll pick you up around six. It’s starting to get cold out so make sure you bring a jacket and maybe a toothbrush.” Craig winked and rose from the couch.

“We’ll see,” I said. “See you later tonight.”

“I’m looking forward to it, Naomi.”

Craig walked himself out and I heard him talk briefly with someone at the door before it shut again. Peter came bounding through the living room and leapt into my lap, meowing desperately like he was actually worried he’d never see me again. Erin more or less did the same thing, wrapping me in a hug so tight I couldn’t breathe. She let go when I started smacking her back and Peter nestled down in my lap, closing his eyes as a sign he was ready to be petted.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” Erin said, sitting next to me. “It took everything in me not to tell Craig that Goku isn’t really your brother. He kept calling me to see if I had any idea where you went. But… where did you go? Really. I know you didn’t bring him home to meet the parents.”

“We uh… went to Florida for the week. He’s crazy; he wants to go on little vacations every other week when his wife isn’t home. Is Vic made at me? I hope I didn’t get fired.”

“Goku already talked to him, I guess. You’re still getting paid and everything, you lucky bitch. What’d you do in Florida? Swim with the dolphins? Why didn’t you bring me! Are you gonna tell Craig you’re secretly rendezvousing with a married guy from a different continent? He’s really into you. Speaking of which, why was he here? Are you two gonna get it on later?”

“Erin, chill out.”

“Sorry, you know I get excited about these things.”

“I need to take a shower and get ready to go to Craig’s. I promise we can talk when I get home later, okay?”

Erin stood up when I did and gently touched my arm. “Are you okay, Naomi? You look seriously stressed out. Maybe you should stay home and relax instead of going out.”

I shrugged her off and walked away to my bedroom to get some clothes ready for my night with Craig. Erin sighed audibly and left, shutting the door quietly behind her. Peter came in my room to watch me getting things together and tried following me into the bathroom but I pushed him out with my foot. Erin was wrong. A night with Craig would make me feel much better and it would help me get over my growing feelings for Goku. I needed to be with a real man, not a married guy from another dimension.

The shower cleared my head a bit and I was in a much better mood afterwards. I put down some food for Peter and opted for a skirt with a sweater for our dinner. It wasn’t too fancy but it was better than a tee and jeans. I curled my hair and put on a bit of makeup to brighten my face up a bit, admiring my handiwork in the mirror when I was done. Craig texted me a few minutes after I was done to tell me he was waiting outside, so I grabbed my purse and keys and headed out.

Craig drove a glossy black Audi that looked like it cost him his soul. I quickly got in and was happy I had dressed appropriately—he was just wearing nice pants and a dress shirt. He whistled and put the car in first gear to pull away from the curb, making the quiet street come to life from the growl of his car’s engine. I settled in my heated seat and straightened my skirt. It would be easy to put up with him being a little clingy if I could drive his Audi every once in a while.

“I’m gonna be opening up my own department store,” Craig said. “It was doing well where it was, but like I said, I missed Kennebunk. You and Goku don’t look related, you know. Is he adopted?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, my parents adopted him because they thought they couldn’t have kids. He’s always been a loner so we don’t really talk about him. As a matter of fact, I have no clue where he went to. Normally I can tell when he wanders off on his own.”

“I see. Well, enough of that. I made chicken alfredo and a few other things to go with it. It’s unfortunate that you have to work tomorrow. We won’t be able to talk for very long after dinner.”

We arrived at Craig’s apartment a little while later and he slid a card key to be allowed into the gated community. He parked and escorted me inside, up an elevator to the top floor and into his moderately large apartment. It was definitely bigger than mine but not gigantic. It didn’t have to be. He had leather furniture, a huge flat screen TV, a new computer, and a stainless steel kitchen off to the left. My apartment suddenly seemed inferior when before I had been perfectly fine with it.

Craig led me into the kitchen where a dinner table was set for two and three candles burned in the middle. He shut off the lights and pulled out my chair, smiling when I sat down. The food was already out on my plate but I waited patiently for him to sit across from me before I ate. It looked delicious—the chicken in the pasta was cut up into small chunks and he’d made some mixed vegetables to go on the side. After Craig was seated I politely cut up portions of the pasta to eat.

“Have you seen anyone since I left?” Craig asked.

I almost choked on my pasta. “Um… no. I’ve been too busy working, to be honest.”

“Same here. I had a few short relationships but none of them really went anywhere. That’s why I came back here. I want to talk to you about something very important.” 

“Important? How important?”

“I was thinking and… well, I’m pushing 30 now and you’re still working at the same job with no real hopes of moving up. Maybe you could move in with me and we could have a few kids. You could still work a few days a week and I’d let you have whatever you wanted. I really want a family, Naomi, and you’re the only woman I’ve met who I would even consider starting one with.”

It was hard to swallow the food in my mouth slow enough that I could put off Craig’s insane question. He was staring at me intently as I took my time replying, trying to decide whether or not I should leave. Was he crazy or just desperate? We dated for a little while, yeah, but we didn’t know one another well enough to settle down and have kids. I was only 22 so I had no interest in being stuck at home all day with screaming babies. My thoughts raced wildly. Was Goku right yet again?

Craig suddenly laughed a bit and set down his fork. “I’m sorry, that was a bit forward. That might all happen with time but I know you’re still young and want to wait. So how about we start from square one, hm? We can see where it goes from there.”

“Okay,” I said, “that sounds a lot better.”

Throughout the entire night I was paranoid that Craig was going to kidnap me. Goku could sense if I was afraid and hopefully he’d come to the rescue but the outright way Craig asked me something so serious made me a teeny bit nervous. We finished dinner and went out to the living room to watch a movie before I had to go home. I relaxed after a few minutes and rested my head on his shoulder, strongly considering falling asleep and calling into work. Craig gently stroked my hair.

I didn’t fall asleep for very long.

_My wedding day wasn’t very fancy. I was wearing a plain white gown and had a veil obscuring my face as I examined myself in the mirror. Videl was standing to my left and Erin to my right, crooning over how perfect I looked and how I was marrying the right man. I raised a hand to look at my ring finger—a pretty gold engagement ring was settled there like it belonged on my skin. It caught the candlelight and sent it in all different directions across the walls. Perfection._

_Soon the bells tolled and they led me out to the hall where I would walk to my groom. I put out my arm for my father but he wasn’t there. When did that happen? Before I could ask questions I was walking forward against my will, no longer capable of controlling my own legs. But another woman was standing up on the stage; she had long, black hair… I knew who it was and struggled to stop. No, no, what the hell did I think I was doing? What twisted dream had I gotten caught up in?_

_Chi-Chi turned along with Goku. She had tears streaming down her face as I continued walking forward. She threw her bouquet on the ground and ran away, nearly knocking me over in the process. I tried to turn around; I wanted to run back home and stay out of their lives. Goku suddenly grabbed my arm and dragged me on stage, grinning widely with eerie malevolence._

_“You both can’t have me,” he said, “so Chi-Chi is out of the picture. We were gonna divorce, anyway! She’s totally fine with it and so are Gohan and Goten.”_

_The two boys were standing beside the priest with their heads bowed, trying not to look up at their father and I. They didn’t look like they were okay with it. It looked more like they were going along with whatever Goku said because he made them. I struggled in Goku’s iron grasp but no one in the congregation wanted to interrupt our wedding. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want to be married, I didn’t want to break him and Chi-Chi apart._

_“This isn’t what I wanted,” I said. “I can’t help what happened.”_

_“You could’ve stopped yourself from making out with me the other night, but you didn’t. We’re meant to be together, Naomi. How did I find you across all these dimensions? Why were we tied together? Why do I find it so hard to resist you? Why can I only sleep when you’re in bed with me?”_

_“It was a freak accident!”_

_“It was fate!” called a voice from the crowd._

_Goku and I turned to see Bulma standing up but she quickly sat down. She tried to hide her face but the damage was done. She knew something and it was important. I tried to free myself… I was desperate to know why I had been chosen as part of a covenant between two worlds…_


	12. 12

There was a hand covering my mouth when I started screaming. It muffled me quite a bit but you could still probably hear it in another apartment. When I was done they let go and yawned in boredom, then turned over on their back. I sat up, feeling around and soon realized I was back home in my own bed. Had Craig brought me back? Was he lying in bed with me to make sure I was okay or did he think Goku was going to sneak in and have his way with me? I reached over to touch my partner and confirmed it was Goku when I felt the muscles under his thin t-shirt.

“I already know,” Goku said. “Don’t worry, I’m not leaving my wife for you and we can go see Bulma whenever you have a day off work. Sound good? Okay, then I’m going back to bed.”

“Hold the phone! Why the hell am I back home? I was on Craig’s couch kind of hoping we were gonna… you know… and I wake up to you covering my mouth so I can’t get out a good scream. Don’t tell me you barged in there and took me away by force because Craig will not like that. He probably already called the police by now. Can you be killed by bullets?”

“After my dream was over I decided to pick you up in the event you woke up shrieking like a banshee. You just kept sleeping, though. Probably because you were back in bed with me. Anyway, you should get changed for bed so you have some rest for work tomorrow.”

I stared at him furiously. How could he be so calm? We both had the same damn nightmare about being married and Bulma apparently DID know something huge about us. Not to mention our encounter the other night that his youngest son walked in on and was only hiding because he was promised a fishing trip. If Chi-Chi found out I made out with her husband she would never speak to me again. How could I live with myself? Honestly. I was jumping between men like a slutty cricket.

“Talk to me!” I demanded, rolling Goku on his back. “Tell me you forgive me for the other night. Tell me you’re wondering about what Bulma knows. Tell me you agree with me on something before I fucking explode and kick my cat!”

Goku sat up and grabbed my face between his big hands, staring at me very seriously. “Listen to me very carefully. Nothing happened the other night. Nothing. Bulma must know something, which I’ve already acknowledged I agree with you on. But we are not and we never will be together. I really need you to put this crush behind you and focus on the task at hand. My wife isn’t very happy with me. I’m not losing everything over a fling with a woman I barely know.”

“You sleep with me every night. I’ve told you my history time and time again. You interrupt when I’m out on a date with a man I’m attracted to. You come on to me when we’re alone. Maybe you should stop sending me mixed signals and learn how to be faithful to your wife. When all this is said and done I’ll be right there telling Chi-Chi about all your attempts to get in my pants.”

“I can’t help it if you’re letting your pheromones ooze out,” he snapped. “You can’t smell them but I can and it drives me insane.” His hands wound around my head to hold my hair tightly. “You need to cut your hair off, too. Shave it. Every time I smell it when you’re sleeping I almost lose control of myself. Get a chastity belt if you have to. Wear winter clothes. Don’t talk to me, don’t breathe, don’t laugh, don’t curl against me when you’re sleeping. If you stop being you then I’ll stop wanting you.”

We both fell silent after Goku’s outburst and I folded my arms angrily when he lay down again. God he was a pain to deal with sometimes. No wonder Chi-Chi preferred it when he shut up and did what he was told. I got up to get some pajamas from my dresser and threw them on without bothering to move to a different room. Goku could suffer for all eternity from my pheromones. I didn’t give a flying fuck about what he wanted. All I cared about was Naomi and maybe Craig a little.

When I was ready I went out to the kitchen to get a glass of water. As I sipped my drink over the sink someone was suddenly behind me, pushing me against the counter so I couldn’t move. I dropped my glass in the sink and squirmed away from Goku, giving him a cold glare when I was safely on the other side of the kitchen. His black eyebrows were furrowed over his eyes, giving him a literally stormy appearance. He jammed his hands in his pockets and glowered at me with Peter.

“Don’t you have something to do?” I asked.

“I can’t sleep without you.”

“Give it a whirl. Maybe you’ll get lucky. And for the love of god, stop trying to grope me. This is just more insanity I can share with your wife when I’m finally fucking free.”

Goku crossed the room in an instant and grabbed my arms to push me against the wall, all traces of hesitation gone. “Don’t you get it, Naomi? Can’t you put the pieces together? I’m trying to fight fate and I can’t do it anymore. You and I are literally bound together.”

“HA, that’s rich. There’s no such thing as fate. You’re perfectly free to do what you want and I can do what I want. Don’t try to excuse your behavior away.”

“That’s what Bulma has been thinking this whole time. Forces beyond our control want us together for some reason or another and neither of us can resist it. Can you honestly say you’d choose Craig over me if you had the choice? If I wasn’t married for twenty years I would gladly take you. I’ve never felt this alive with anyone and I’m tired of fighting against something that’s meant to be.”

“I’m not being coerced into anything. I want Craig, not you. Don’t bother trying to convince me otherwise because I’ll never—”

The rest of my words were lost when Goku kissed me fiercely, shoving me into the wall so hard I feared it would break under the pressure. My hands wrapped around his back to pull him closer and I forgot what I was even angry about. What did it matter? No one was around to see us and he didn’t care about Chi-Chi either way. We could live together in my world if we had to. I could go tell Craig he’d have to find some other chick to have kids with because I was involved with my recently divorced alien friend.

_It’s not right_ , squeaked the voice in my head. _No matter what he says you know it isn’t right. Think of Chi-Chi, Goten or Gohan. You’re hurting a lot of people over something trivial._

The Saiyan hoisted me up in his arms to carry me to the bedroom, never breaking his mouth away from mine. Every nerve in my body was on fire; it felt like I’d been struck by a thunderbolt. I wondered if Goku was feeling the same way until he dropped me on my bed and I was able to look at his face. It was still pretty dark so I couldn’t see much, but he looked incredibly hungry and he was trembling ever so slightly. He pulled off his shirt and watched me peel mine off with a bit of difficulty, then crept on top of me and admired my naked chest. 

“You don’t think this is strange?” Goku asked, gently rubbing one of my breasts with his hand.

“Hmm?” I muttered.

“Oh, nothing. You just got a heartfelt confession from a man who hasn’t spoken to you in nearly two days. Do you think you might be… dreaming?”

My heart sank and I groaned in exasperation as Goku leaned down to kiss my neck. Of course it was a dream. Now I was having dreams within dreams. When would I finally be awake to confront my painful reality? Having Goku in my head on a constant basis was kind of shitty.

“It’s fate,” Goku murmured, “and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Something was shaking me furiously; I could feel consciousness finally dawning on me…


	13. 13

“Naomi, are you okay?”

My eyes opened and I sat up quickly, putting a hand over my chest to make sure my heart didn’t beat out of my chest. Craig sat up alongside me and put one hand on my back, eyebrows knitted together with concern. We were lying under black sheets so we definitely weren’t at my apartment but my clothes were still on and it didn’t feel like I had been drugged. I caught my breath and wasn’t surprised to feel Goku extremely close—he liked to lurk around when I was with other men. Hopefully he hadn’t had the same dream I did or our relationship was about to get even more awkward.

Craig pressed the back of his palm to my forehead. “Nightmares again, or are you sick? I’ll give Vic a call and tell him you won’t be able to come into work. You need to relax.”

“No, I can work,” I said. 

“I insist. You can stay here for the day and go home tomorrow when you’re feeling better. You know I can’t let you out there on your own when you have a fever. Erin told me she’s been worried about you but I wasn’t sure if she was overreacting. Try to go back to sleep, okay?”

There was no time for me to protest: Craig left the room and shut the door behind him. I sighed and flopped back down on the comfy bed, content with where I was. Another day off work wouldn’t kill me, right? Vic had to be pissed I wasn’t showing up and he still had to pay me. How could he possibly get away with something like that? I knew he had a crush on me but he was pulling some serious strings to pay someone who wasn’t coming to work for a lame reason. I was taking advantage of him. A little.

I felt the bed sink a bit and turned to see Goku lying beside me, both grey eyes watching me curiously. He quickly covered my mouth before I could shriek in surprise and placed a finger to his lips. I glared at him angrily until he let go then crossed my arms like a child throwing a tantrum. If I was having a dream within a dream within a dream I was gonna blow my brains out. Between that and the interdimensional crush I had…. Well, there was almost no hope for me.

Goku looked around Craig’s bedroom. “Nome, I know you’re attracted to this man but you need to stop seeing him. Something feels… weird. I’ve been trying to track him whenever he’s not with you but he sort of disappears. I’m pretty good at following people with or without my ki-sensing abilities and this guy vanishes off the face of the Earth. Plus, I couldn’t find records of him living in New York.”

“Will you relax?” I whispered. “He’s hard to find, so what? I like that he’s mysterious.”

“Normal people don’t walk off the face of the Earth and conveniently waltz back in at the right time. Isn’t it odd that he showed up when you and I first met? It’s like he was waiting for it to happen and now he’s just watching us to see how our relationship is progressing.” 

“You are absolutely insane. Craig and I dated a while ago; don’t you remember me mentioning that? It’s coincidence, that’s all. Now kindly leave so I can enjoy my day off being pampered tomorrow. Oh, and if he wanted us together he wouldn’t be taking me away from you so frequently. Duh.”

“It isn’t that simple,” Goku said. “Come on, let’s go home. You need to go back to work tomorrow.”

“No, stop telling me what to do. I’m staying here and you’re leaving. Now. I’ll scream and Craig will come in here and beat the hell out of you.”

“I haven’t been afraid of a human in a few decades. Don’t you want to talk about that dream we both had? Not the one where we were married but what you just woke up from? If you’ll come with me I’ll tell you what I think it means by saying we’re fated to be together.”

The bedroom door opened and Goku was gone in an instant, leaving behind the horrible tugging sensation in my stomach. Craig smiled and carefully shut the door before making his way over to the bed, only clothed in a grey t-shirt and black boxers. He set his phone on the bedside table and crept under the covers to lie beside me in the warmth. A nagging suspicion in my head told me I should be more cautious but I wanted to be ignorant to the danger before me. I needed something to distract me from my flourishing crush on Goku.

Craig reached out to touch my face and smiled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a pretty girl in my bed. Way too long. We can stay up nice and late since you’re off the hook for work tomorrow.”

My palms started feeling sweaty when his hand gently cupped the back of my head to pull me towards him until we were well within proper kissing distance. He smelled like Axe and mint; no doubt from a quick trip to the bathroom before he came back in the bedroom. Our lips met hesitantly, trying to figure out how the other person kissed, but soon we were locked together passionately with our hands in one another’s hair. Craig rolled on his back to pull me on top of him and pushed my hips down against his without missing a beat. My thoughts drifted to Goku…

Oddly enough, I thought I could feel a vague anger boiling inside me. Craig moved on to kissing my neck and I struggled with the wildly misplaced emotion as his hands slid up my shirt to unhook my bra. Why did I suddenly feel so pissed off? Goku had mentioned he could feel my emotions before but it wasn’t possible for me to do the same because I hadn’t been trained how to. Or could it be that he was so furiously angry that it was burning through the barriers between us?

“You’re tense,” Craig said. “Why is that?”

“Hmm? Oh, I don’t know. Probably just my nerves getting the best of me. It’s been a while since I last did this so…”

“There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll get you back on your feet.” 

My bra strap clicked audibly and Craig smirked at me before turning us over so he was lying on top of me. He pulled down my shirt to kiss my breasts and I tried to relax so he didn’t ask any more questions. When I looked over Craig’s shoulder I had to dig my nails into his back to keep from screaming. Grey eyes watched me from across the room and moved back and forth—Goku was pacing. More importantly, he was watching me having sex with Craig. I couldn’t help but stick my tongue out at him.

Craig lifted his head to look at me and Goku vanished. “Seriously, are you okay? You seem distracted. We can wait until you’re feeling better if you want.”

“Nope, right now is perfect,” I said and pushed his head down to kiss him full on the mouth.

The anger flared violently and I felt someone grab my arm, then the feeling of Craig’s lips was suddenly gone. When I opened my eyes I was sitting in my own bed with my arms awkwardly outstretched like they were trying to hold something. Goku crossed his arms irately and sat beside me, refusing to look in my direction. I dropped my hands and turned to punch his big biceps, which really didn’t faze him. He glared angrily at the carpet and easily ignored my shrieking demands that he bring me back before Craig noticed I disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

“What is your fucking problem?!” I demanded. “First you’re all paranoid about him being a bad guy, then you tell me I’m not allowed to see him and now you’re leaving me high and dry. You’re ridiculous. When you try to sleep with your wife I’m gonna come running in and watch.”

Goku snorted disdainfully. “You can do much better than that. I told you he gives me the creeps and I don’t think—”

“Oh, Goku, I don’t give a FUCK about what you think. We make out and you act like it never happened, then we both have crazy sex dreams and you act like THAT didn’t happen. Do you just like playing with me? Does it give you a sense of power to know you have two women at your beck and call? I’m not gonna be toyed with by an unnecessarily possessive alien.”

“I’m married with two children and one is almost your age. How am I supposed to feel? What am I supposed to do? Act on my urges and throw all of that away for a fling?” Goku rose from the bed and resumed pacing with his hands on his hips. “I made a vow when I married Chi-Chi and I would never hurt either of my sons that way. Gohan would be humiliated if his friends found out. We’re going to see Bulma tomorrow to find out what she knows before it’s too late.”

“I’ve never pressured you into doing anything with me. You acted of your own accord so don’t try to make me feel guilty. I already have enough shit on my plate right now. God, I haven’t been this angry in so long that I keep forgetting how to stay pissed off. Run home to your family and leave me the hell alone so I can try to explain what happened to Craig. He’s gonna call Homeland Security.”

“You don’t have your phone,” Goku said.

“Then I guess I’ll drive over there and apologize in person. My life has become nothing but difficult since you came around, buddy.”

When I stood up and tried to walk past Goku he grabbed my arm to pull me in front of him. We glared at each other through the darkness and I tried to ignore the nagging idea in my mind that kissing him would be a great way to break the ice. He shook his head as his eyes searched my expression for any sign of weakness. There was no way I was giving in to his irritating charm. We were both breathing kind of heavy—I felt like I’d run a marathon.

“I want you,” Goku said.

Those three letters really threw me for a loop. I stumbled on my response, trying to come up with something witty that would lighten the mood, but he looked dead serious. My mouth fell open a bit trying to make a sound and nothing came out. What the hell was I supposed to say? I quickly sealed my lips shut and ripped my arm out of Goku’s grasp, rubbing it a bit to bring back the sensation. He stared at me unblinkingly until I finally looked away at the floor and laughed a little.

“Get in line,” I said. “There’re a few guys who want me.”

“You know I don’t mean it like that. I want you. All of you. But I can’t up and leave my wife and kids for a woman half my age. What does that say about me? I’m the protector of Earth, not an adulterer.”

“You’ve known me for what, two weeks?”

“I’ve known you for much longer than that, Naomi.”

I raised an eyebrow questioningly but someone started knocking furiously on the door and our conversation had to wait. Goku watched me leave the room, his eyes full of the many different emotions he was having a hard time sorting out. Was it possible for our relationship to be even more complicated?


	14. 14

My visitors were definitely not what I was expecting. I was nearly knocked off my feet by my sister charging in to throw her arms around my neck, soon followed by my brother and both of my parents. They threw their suitcases on the ground to give me a collaborative hug until I started choking so loudly they had to stop. Sophie squealed joyously and spun me around in circles for a few seconds, chattering happily about a boy she was dating and asking if I thought she looked better blonde. Oliver was already taking out his cell phone to show me pictures of the new puppy our parents had bought them.

To say it was overwhelming was a massive understatement. I was in a severe state of shock between the rapid talking and questions and concerns that Erin had been expressing to them over the past two weeks. They wanted to know who the strange man was she had been telling me about and Oliver asked if I could please convince Sophie to turn her hair brown again so she looked normal like the rest of us. My heart was pounding nervously as I struggled to stammer out an excuse and prayed to god that Goku didn’t wander out to the foyer.

“How’s work been?” asked my father, clapping a hand on my shoulder. He was tall, which gave my siblings a bit of a height boost over me. “Erin is worried about you. We thought a surprise visit was way overdue so we packed up the car and headed up here!”

“Your sister joined the cheerleading team!” said my mother excitedly.

“Want to see me do my routine?” Sophie asked.

“She looks stupid as blonde,” Oliver said, immediately inciting an argument.

When I pressed my hands over my face to stop myself from screaming I felt my connection with Goku relax, telling me he was coming out to the front hall. The last thing I needed was my parents wondering why I had a guy hanging out in my bedroom. Sure I had moved out a while ago and I was almost in my mid-20s but they still liked to think of me as a little girl. They’d be furious if they knew I had a guy I wasn’t technically committed to lurking around in my house.

“Naomi, you didn’t tell me your family was coming to visit!”

All four of their heads swiveled around to look at Goku standing with a well-fabricated expression of complete surprise in my bedroom doorframe. He smiled widely and covered his mouth like he had just caught a glimpse of God and immediately walked forward to offer my father his hand for a shake. My dad stared for a few seconds before accepting the gesture and Goku didn’t hesitate in pulling my mother into a tight hug. He shook my siblings’ hands as well and stepped by them to stand beside me, wrapping an arm around my waist.

“It’s so wonderful to meet all of you!” Goku said. “My name is Greg Hawthorne. Naomi’s been promising we could all meet for… gosh, I don’t know. It’s been nearly a year now! I’m a veterinarian at the local animal hospital so I stopped by because she mentioned Peter wasn’t feeling well. I was just about to head back home—I live right on the ocean.”

My mother’s eyes were practically bulging out of her skull. “You live on the ocean? And you’re a vet? Goodness, how old are you?”

“Twenty-five, ma’am. I was put in accelerated studies for my performance.” Goku flashed them all a grin and pulled me closer to kiss the top of my head. I practically melted.

“You should stay,” Sophie piped up. “I want to know my sister’s boyfriend. Besides, Peter might get sick again and you’ll have to come back anyway.”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude,” Goku said.

“No worries!” My father exchanged a glance with my mother and smiled back at Goku. “We’d love for you to stay so we can all chat. Erin told us Naomi was seeing some character named… Goku? She must’ve been hysterical over something else.”

“Hysterical jealousy,” my mother muttered.

They all laughed and we made our way out to the living room to sit on my severely lacking furniture. Goku sat and pulled me into his lap to make room for my brother and sister to sit beside him, while my mother took the armchair and dad stood behind it. I tried my best to look relaxed being in Goku’s arms but it was tremendously difficult. A whole lot of shit had been happening in the past twelve hours and the last thing I wanted to do was yack with my family for the entire night. Sitting between his legs also brought an unwelcome pressure on the small of my back.

Dad was prepared with a barrage of random questions: where Goku went to school, who his parents were, where he was from. I was surprised at how flawlessly Goku could outright lie to them but it was really for their own good. They wouldn’t be very happy if they knew what his real background was. So I sat quietly between his legs, speaking when spoken to and struggling to not react much when he began running his fingers through my hair. He massaged my back under Oliver’s watchful eye and acted like he couldn’t see Sophie ogling at him from the corner of her eye. He did a pretty good job.

The sun was rising in the sky when my family finally left to go to their hotel. My apartment was much too small to house all of us and I was glad I wouldn’t be stuck sleeping on the floor. Goku’s last words were still ringing in my head through my awful exhaustion: he had known me for longer than I thought. What the hell did that mean? We had met only a week or two ago, both shocked by the strange circumstances. I seemed a bit more unnerved than Goku but I chalked it up to his past experiences.

“Give us a call later on, dear,” mom said as dad and Oliver toted their suitcases back outside. “I know you’re busy with work but we’d love to take you and Goku out for dinner tonight. And I’m glad to hear you’re finally sleeping now. Maybe you just needed a good man all along.”

I could practically feel the self-satisfied smirk on Goku’s face when he kissed the top of my head again. He was thoroughly enjoying the moderate amount of power he had over me. I’d be asking questions and getting answers as soon as everyone was safely out of earshot. 

As soon as the door closed Goku lifted me off the ground by my shoulders and lugged me back in the bedroom so we could resume our conversation. He shut the door while I set an alarm for three in the afternoon—I’d really been ripped off in regards to sleep. When the blinds were drawn to block out the sun we both climbed into bed and I stared at him expectantly until he finally gave in and started talking. There was no way I was going to bed without knowing how he had known me for a “long time.”

“You’re welcome for the acting,” Goku said.

“You’re welcome for sharing my bed with me at night. Now talk.”

The Saiyan bit the inside his lip and adjusted himself a bit. “I’ve known about our connection since the day it happened. When I accidentally wound up in your world you were an eleven year old girl sleeping in bed and I figured it was a mistake that wouldn’t come back for me. The first few sleepless months made me realize I was wrong so I went back to see you every once in a while. I never slept with you or anything but I’d hang around or pass out on the floor.

“All of my friends back home found out soon enough, including Chi-Chi, and Bulma’s been trying to sever our bond for nearly five years. Odds are that it can’t be done. How I felt about you didn’t start out as… you know, sexual… but you started getting older and the more I visited the more obsessed I became. I was going to reveal myself when you turned eighteen. You were so excited to be moving, though and I didn’t want to interfere with your happiness. I hung back and waited until the right moment.

“Bulma thinks its fate, that you and I are meant to be and somehow one of us wound up in the wrong part of time and space. The ultimate outcome of our relationship is so important that we were forcibly bound together and it just keeps intensifying. My marriage was strained almost from the beginning but this was kind of the icing on the cake. Soon you won’t be able to bear being with anyone else. Whoever or whatever did this to us does not want that to happen at any cost.”

The revelation didn’t make me feel any better. Thinking of Goku creeping around in my bedroom when I was a little girl gave me the heebie jeebies and I wondered what kinds of things he had seen me doing throughout my life. Sometimes I snuck boys upstairs or enjoyed my own company, so to speak. I felt cheated by whoever had made Goku and me into an item without my consent, whether it was God or some other mystical force beyond our control. The demons were the most likely culprits but we had no clue who they were or what they needed to happen for the dimensions to connect.

Still, it sounded like a confession of true feelings that I had been hoping for. It alleviated the guilt I had been feeling over coming between him and his wife. They had been on the rocks from the beginning and she didn’t want to put up with him traveling between dimensions. But marriage meant you had to work through your problems instead of avoiding them or throwing a hissy fit. Goku and Chi-Chi could’ve been happy together after some effort if it wasn’t for me driving down the final stake.

Goku gently brushed my hair away from my neck. “I’ve been fighting with my determination to remain committed to my family and this consuming drive I have to be with you. Gohan already understands and he’s come to terms with it but Goten is still too young. I’ll never feel any better about hurting them.”

“If you’re expecting me to say I’m gonna drop everything to be your faithful wife then you’re crazier than I thought.” I rolled on my back to look at the ceiling and shortly shut my eyes. If it was a test I wanted to pass with flying colors. Goku wasn’t too bad of a liar so I couldn’t know for sure.

“I’m not telling you to do anything. It’s in both of our best interests but you have free will. You’re attracted to me and I’m attracted to you so I don’t see what the big deal is. Bulma can’t break us apart which means you’ll be stuck with me forever, regardless of what man you choose to marry. You’ll break someone’s heart like I broke Chi-Chi’s. Am I really that bad?”

Instead of answering I chose to turn on my side so my back was facing him. Goku sighed and pulled me back in place, holding me down by my arms to keep me from moving. Okay so he wasn’t that bad but I didn’t want anyone telling me what I had to do or what guy I had to be with. Or did I? Wasn’t it much easier that way? If it was fate, that meant I had been saved years of repeated heartbreak. We could’ve been that icky word I hated to hear: soul mates. I shuddered and Goku laughed.

“Sleep on it?” he asked.

“I guess, but that’s not a guarantee. And no funny business while I’m passed out.”

The man who served as my sleeping pill and decade-long stalker nodded and lightly kissed my forehead before returning to lying beside me under the sheets. He pulled me close so our bodies were pressed together like puzzle pieces and soon dropped off to sleep, now free of all his guilt. I stared at the wall and tried to make sense of everything I had just learned. Once again, sleep evaded me.


	15. 15

_My family stood around me while I read a magazine on the couch. Mom shook her head and said I was getting too old to be risking being alone my entire life. Dad told me I needed to settle down and have some grandkids for them before it was too late. My siblings assured them that they wouldn’t be such pathetic losers and they’d make a huge family for all of us to enjoy. I stuffed my face further into my reading and tried to ignore their disappointment. I was only 22. I had tons of time left._

_An arm draped around my shoulder and I looked up to see my family was gone. Goku was sitting beside me, curiously looking at my magazine. I smiled and we kissed quickly on the lips; I didn’t want to risk him getting too excited from a bit of physical contact. He pulled me closer and placed one of his big hands on my lower abdomen, rubbing it with a wide smile on his face. Before I could say anything he lowered his head to my stomach and rested his head there like he was listening for something. He sighed._

_“I keep hoping someone’s growing in there,” Goku said._

_My jaw dropped. “You… what?”_

_“Don’t you want a baby, too? I love kids. You can stay home and play with them and not worry about anything.” He nuzzled closer to me. “Now it’s just a waiting game.”_

_“We’ve never slept together, though. I don’t know where you think babies come from.”_

_“There’s gonna be someone in the as soon as you stop resisting me. We’ve slept together so many nights and been close to it once. Come on, what’s the harm? I have experience with kids and you care about me, right? That’s what I really, really want. Kids. Don’t forget it, Naomi.”_

The alarm went off at that moment and I woke from my dream to shut it off before it woke Goku up, too. He was facing me, still sleeping with both eyes closed and a pleasant smile on his face. For once it looked like we had two different dreams. I scratched my head and climbed out of bed to go take a morning shower that would hopefully clear my head. Hot water had that effect—I thought it had to do with the cascading motion of the shower more than the actual heat. Everything washed away.

Peter caught me on the way and yowled for breakfast so I briefly put off my shower to put some wet food down in his dish. He purred contently when it was full and watched me walk to the bathroom and shut the door. As I stripped off my pajamas I was suddenly hit full force with an intense vision and barely caught myself on the counter in time for it to take full effect. 

_A slew of women were around Goku, grabbing at his muscles and giggling. He was smoking a cigarette and completely ignoring me standing off to the side with my arms crossed furiously. We were older now. I was thirty and he was immortal so time didn’t matter to him. When I gave him an expectant look he shooed the women away, watching as they walked off down the street and finally walked over to put his arm around my waist. He eyed a few more girls while we walked._

_“You’re impossible,” I said. “Why are you doing this?”_

_“If you don’t give a man what he wants he’s likely to stray.” Goku put out his cigarette and pulled me closer like I was his buddy. “Stop putting off sleeping with me. The longer you wait the more likely you are to lose me. Besides, we probably can’t have kids, anyway. Even if we do you don’t have to worry about it. I’ll never leave and your family will be happy, right?”_

_“I’m not ready for kids,” I said, “and I’m not ready to jump into bed with you.”_

_“You have been before. What’s changed since then, hm? I’m about to wake up and realize you’re in the shower. If you don’t want me to come in and join you, lock the door. Otherwise you’re gonna have an interesting morning. See ya later, Naomi.”_

As soon as I was conscious I clambered to the door and twisted the lock as a precaution. If Goku tried to walk in on me naked he had to know I wouldn’t be happy with that. I panted heavily and yanked open the window to let some of the heat out then jumped in the hot shower. Technically he could still use his teleportation to come in but he would get the hint if the door was locked. If not, then my dream was right. We were about to have a very interesting morning.

When I scrubbed the soap out of my hair I became aware that my connection with Goku lost a lot of strain. Soon I heard a satisfied kind of growl and I spun around to see Goku standing behind me, also stark naked and eyeing my wet body hungrily. I shrieked and tried to leave but he covered my mouth and pushed me up against the wall, making our bodies touch in interesting ways. Despite my furious glaring he didn’t seem perturbed and stroked my thigh with his free hand.

“Aren’t you tired of this game?” he asked. “I’m trying to be polite and give you time to decide but you’re driving me a little crazy. You’re lucky the soap washed away your pheromones. Those are pesky things that just make everything worse. Why don’t you dry off and come back to bed?”

It was a rhetorical question that he definitely didn’t want me answering. Goku easily lifted me out of the shower and turned it off then wrapped me up in one of my towels and carried me back to my room. He had released my mouth so I could speak again but I didn’t know what to say. I definitely wasn’t gonna turn him down but I kind of wanted to. Maybe I was just playing a game like he said. Sooner or later we were gonna wind up in bed tangled together in bed so what did it matter?

Goku took the towel away and threw it on the ground, pulling me into a passionate kiss that made me forget why the hell I was questioning anything. He pushed me back on the bed, holding my face between his hands so I had no chance of escape. His pelvis ground against mine and I wrapped my legs around his waist eagerly, making him shiver a bit and laugh. I pouted unhappily when he paused in rubbing against me to smooth my hair back from my face so he could look me in the eye.

“Relax,” Goku said. “We have all day.”

“I don’t care. I want you now. You’re the one who broke in on my shower!”

“You needed a little push in the right direction.” Goku gently pressed himself closer to me until I moaned in frustration. “See? Let’s enjoy this instead of rushing it.”

I whined and put my hands on his biceps as leverage. “Please? Haven’t you tortured me enough?”

The Saiyan raised an eyebrow and conceded to my demands, easily pushing himself inside me with a rumbling groan I had never heard from a man.

At that moment, our connection clicked. 

Through the intense lust and desire I could feel Goku—not only his physical presence in my body but the flurry of thoughts that were running through his mind became privy to me, too. Everything was focused on me and nothing else as he started carefully moving inside me. He was pretty big and it stung a bit but I was more excited by how insanely close we were in all aspects. Sex had never been so satisfying. Goku breathed heavily against my neck and held a fistful of my hair to tug when he was getting too excited.

Much to my surprise, we continued like that for quite a while. After we were connected we both regained control over our lust and were able to make it last longer than I imagined. As Goku neared finishing along with me, a nagging concern sprouted in the back of my head. Should we have used a condom? I wasn’t on birth control because I never really needed it. When Goku’s pace quickened and he started making more audible noises I pushed against his chest.

The crazed look on his face made me regret stopping him. He was panting and staring at me with a mix of confusion and irritation. Men didn’t like being stopped when they were getting close. I set my hands firmly against his muscular chest and nodded my head toward my nightstand.

“Condom?” I asked.

Goku blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Don’t you think you should use one? I could get pregnant.”

“What is a condom and what does it do for pregnancy?” His hands clenched the sheets beside me until they started to rip and he slowly moved inside me, full of restrained impatience. 

“It’s a rubber thing you put over your penis so I don’t get sperm in me. Thus, I can’t get pregnant.”

“Can they break?”

“Well, yeah, it’s just rubber—”

“No point,” he said. “I’m way too big for anything human men use.”

It was true. My body had to do a lot of stretching and reworking to accommodate him but after a while it managed, though I doubted I’d go back to being how I was after. Prickling nervousness came over me and I stopped Goku yet again, making him growl angrily and pin down my arms at my sides. He kissed me fervently and his hands tightened around my arms as he came closer to finishing. At the last moment he bit down on the pillow beside my head and covered my mouth with his hand so my neighbors couldn’t hear me screaming with a mix of pleasure and pain. 

Goku’s entire body went limp and he remained inside me for a few moments as our arousals ebbed away back to the ever-present bond we had. He rolled on his back and pulled me halfway on his chest, swallowing so hard I saw his Adam’s apple bob. I wasn’t sure how I felt. Happy, yes. Excited, yes. But a paranoid fear still clung to the back of my mind. When I sat up to go to the bathroom, Goku grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back down on the bed.

“I should probably go real quick,” I said.

“No, you’re fine. Lay down and sleep, Nome.”

“I really need to go. Then I have to see if I can get an emergency contraceptive so you and I don’t wind up with more than we can handle.”

Yet again I tried to get up and Goku forced me back down, now looking aggravated. He covered my mouth once more when I began to protest and held me down firmly. I felt kind of gross and I wanted to get his… essence out of me before it could spread much further. 

“I don’t know what a contraceptive is but it sounds like you’re saying you don’t want to have any kids.” Goku glared at me with stormy grey eyes. “Chi-Chi and I never used any of that and we had two perfect sons. I’m not messing with nature. If it happens, it happens. Fate brought us together and fate might give us one kid or maybe ten of them. That’s just how it is.”

My eyes widened in horror and I struggled furiously in his grasp. Why didn’t I think of that? Of course he wasn’t going to want me using something he didn’t understand. Had Chi-Chi taught him that or was it due to his newfound respect for the influence of fate? I was okay with fate bringing Goku and I together but I was really not okay with it making me pregnant against my will. When tears rolled down my cheeks Goku wiped them away with his thumb and cuddled up next to me.

“I love fate,” he said.


	16. 16

_The first thing I saw was a clawed hand holding a glass of red wine. As my eyes opened fully I could see Scoria sitting across from me, both of his red eyes watching me almost lazily. I sat up and held my aching head, looking around the familiar room and shivering in the cold. He took a sip of his wine and placed the glass on the coffee table positioned between us. Scoria smiled pleasantly, offering me a nice view of his fangs, and inclined his horned head neatly as a polite gesture._

_“Welcome, Naomi,” he said. “As you know, my name is Scoria. My associate is having a very important discussion with Goku right now so you won’t have the pleasure of meeting her. I was interested in touching base with you on recent events. You’ve put the puzzle together quite nicely, just a bit faster than your new lover. I’d hoped we could settle things when my people arrived on your planet.”_

_I shook my head. “No, I haven’t figured anything out. Goku and I both know you two are up to something fishy and I have a feeling you deliberately put him and I together. Other than that I’m still in the dark. I think I prefer it that way to be honest. Whenever I open my eyes to something I regret it.”_

_Scoria grinned widely, thoroughly amused by my rambling. “Isn’t that the nature of humans? They love turning a blind eye to the things they’re uncomfortable with or they dislike. It makes them so much easier to control and dominate.” He steepled his talons and watched me with growing excitement. “I’ll let you on in a small secret to calm some of your fears. Yes, it is I who caused instant transmission to break through the dimensions. My original intention was for him to meet an older woman but then I realized it would be so much more fun to watch him squirm for a decade waiting for you._

_“The very nature of your connection was not created by me, however. Many calculations told me something akin to it would happen but I cannot influence the universe itself. Goku shattered time and space; he violated a basic law of nature and thus, the two of you were permanently tethered. One cannot exist without the other. You are two sides to the same coin. That is non-negotiable at this point.”_

_“What do you want from us?” I asked. “Do you send us the dreams?”_

_“Yet another thing I cannot control. As I said, all I could do was set things in motion. I managed to weaken the wall between our worlds enough that Goku could travel between them and meet you. The dreams are caused by your own inner fears and desires, or perhaps it’s the universe influencing you to do what it wants. I’m very close to getting what I want. Soon the gateway will be opened and our worlds will become one. All we need now is the catalyst to facilitate the connection.”_

_“You didn’t answer my question, Scoria. What do you want from my world? How will Goku and I make a catalyst that lets our worlds connect?”_

_The demon only smiled. “Now why would I tell you that? It will ruin all this fun we’ve been having. Anyway, when you awaken you’ll be confronted with a slightly different Goku. He’s been talking with Fiamme for a while now so he should be ready. I highly suggest you tread lightly around him from now on. As a Saiyan, he’s naturally possessive but we wanted to… exacerbate that.”_

_“Were you telling him not to let me up earlier? I’m so sick of asking you questions and getting a ridiculous, long-winded answer that doesn’t help me at all. If my relationship with Goku will bring you to my world then I guess I’ll have to cut things off with him before it’s too late.”_

_“It’s been too late for ten years, Naomi.”_

Sunlight blinded me upon waking and I turned on my side to keep from having my eyes completely burned out. Someone was knocking on the door, adding to my current issues and I somehow stumbled out of bed to answer it. I felt around for Goku and was relieved that he was actually pretty far away. It made my heart hurt but I didn’t want to confront him about holding me down against my will. He had his own visions to deal with so it’d be better for both of us to hold off on talking.

Halfway out the room I remembered I was totally naked and hurried back to throw on my pjs. My body ached like I’d been working out for too long and I groaned when I saw hickies all over my neck. All the pain throughout me started crying out for attention at the same time, the most notable of which was between my legs. I’d have to get Plan B later on after I was done dealing with whoever wanted to see me. I wasn’t dealing with the dread of a positive pregnancy test on top of everything else.

When I finally came out to the kitchen, almost tripping over Peter on the way, I opened the door to see Craig wringing his hands nervously. He made a choking sound when he saw me and I was soon enveloped in an insanely tight hug that caused me even more pain. He pulled away to examine me and shut the door gently to keep Peter from sneaking out into the hall. Sweet Jesus, how was I going to explain how terrible I looked? Even worse, how would I explain my mysterious disappearance? 

Craig sat down on the couch with me, visibly shaken. “I had an insane dream you were at my apartment last night and just vanished. Are you okay? You look really pale. Where did you get all those hickies? From me? I’m sorry if I did that, I get kind of weird with alcohol.”

“No, I’d rather not talk about it. I’m fine and that’s all you need to know.”

“If you say so. Erin’s worried about you so you might want to give her a call. I brought your phone over. You have a few missed calls from your parents and siblings but other than that no one’s tried to contact you. Do you want me to bring you to the hospital, Naomi? You look really sick.”

“I said I’m fine. I need to rest, though so if you wouldn’t mind heading out the same way you came I’d be much obliged. My brother should be home soon to take care of me.”

Two big hands settled on my shoulders from behind. “I’m home, sister. Nice to see you have company.”

“Oh, hi Goku. I just came over to check on Naomi. I don’t mean to intrude.” Craig looked a bit nervous so I could only guess as what sort of expression Goku had on. 

“That’s… so kind of you,” Goku said. “But my sister really needs her rest so we’d both appreciate it if you’d go on home to let her do just that. We both had a long—” He dug his fingers into my shoulders for a less than gentle message—“long, night. Oh, and please ask Erin to politely mind her own business. I’m more than capable of taking care of Naomi.”

It had the intended effect. Craig nodded quickly and got up to leave, seeing himself out before I could say another word. An uncomfortable tingle traveled down my spine as Goku dropped his hands from my shoulders and walked around the couch to sit beside me. He was back to wearing a full black outfit that accentuated his muscles and didn’t look to be in the mood for chatting. One of his arms wound around my waist and he tugged me close to his side, scowling.

“I could practically smell his intentions,” Goku said, sounding a little paranoid. “I told you he was suspicious. Don’t let strange men into the house. I already went to your job and told them you’re quitting. You have to stay home with me from now on so I can protect you.”

“Uh… first of all, you better be joking about my job. Secondly, it was Craig, not some psychopathic rapist. Thirdly, I’ll have to throw you out if you ever hold me captive in my own bed again. What the hell was up with that? It doesn’t just absorb into my uterus after. I also had another vision with Scoria but he said Fiamme was talking to you. How’d it go?”

“Fine, fine. Nothing interesting to report. We should relocate to my world permanently, though. If we’re together now I need to keep you safe and I can’t do that here when my power is weakened. I’ve already talked to Chi-Chi and she screamed at me good for a while but she’s doing okay now. You can still say goodbye to your family and stuff before we leave.”

I turned to face Goku and noticed he was looking haggard. “You need sleep. You’re losing your mind. Come on, I’ll make you a quick snack and you can sleep this off for the day. We don’t want you doing anything weird.”

“No, no, we need to go. I’ve been waiting a decade for you and I’m not risking anyone taking you away from me.” His fingers drummed on his knee frantically. “Then again, Gohan is around your age and if he leaves Videl that means you’re the first one he’ll consider. Goten is getting older, too. Vegeta always wants to stick it to me so I can’t leave you alone with him, either.”

“Will you please relax? You’re freaking me out.”

“No, I need to make sure you’re safe before one of them takes you.”

“Oh my God you sound totally fucking—”

It wasn’t a good idea to prod an unstable Saiyan. Goku suddenly grabbed my throat and hoisted me up off the couch, dragging me back to the bedroom. He threw me on the bed and shut the door while I coughed and spluttered for air, heart pattering faintly in my chest. My very aggravated lover paced back and forth until I tried to get up, which sent him back into an angry rage. The next thing I knew my neck was being crushed to the mattress by Goku’s huge hand. I struggled desperately. What the hell?!

Goku smiled broadly. “Shh, calm down. I’m not gonna hurt you. Just do what I say and everything will be fine. I promise nothing bad will happen if you behave, okay?”

I stared at him blankly. Something serious had transpired while I was passed out in bed and he was too frazzled to tell me exactly what that was. It could’ve been his argument with Chi-Chi that made him snap and go over the edge, or it could’ve been whatever Fiamme did to him. Regardless, I was caught in the middle which was not a good place to be. I reached up and pried Goku’s hand off my mouth to lick my lips, making him shift in response. 

“Tell me what happened,” I said.

“I went back to talk to Chi-Chi and she was all sorts of mad at me. She said I was a liar and an adulterer while Goten stood on the stairs and watched us argue. I felt bad but what was I supposed to do, keep lying about our relationship? Anyway, I came back here and had another vision about the demons and the one female talked to me about my fears. She didn’t seem too bad and she brought to my attention the other men who are interested in you or may be in the future.”

“Oh please, get a grip. We’ve already been over this time and time again. Our bond is way too strong to be broken so why worry? If you’d like to visit your world again we can do that but I’m not staying there permanently. I like my own realm, thank you very much.”

“Promise you’re mine.” Goku took my face between his hands, searching my eyes. “Promise.”

“I promise. Now let’s see if we can find these demons and get some answers out of them, okay?”

The Saiyan leaned back to let me up and nodded, quickly pulling me into a passionate kiss when I was sitting before him. He was still kneeling on my bed when I left, gazing at the wall blankly.


	17. 17

It was too bad that I was leaving my family behind after they had come for a visit. Of course my cell phone couldn’t pick up a text from across dimensions so there no point in bringing it with me. I sent Erin a text asking her to take care of Peter in my absence and apologize to Vic yet again for my terrible work attendance during the past few weeks. She didn’t answer. That meant I was officially on bad terms with three of my favorite people in my home world. Fantastic.

When I emerged from the bathroom Goku was waiting for me, looking much less crazy than he had earlier. He smiled and kissed me lightly on the lips then took my hands in his to study my knuckles. I’d become accustomed to his idiosyncrasies and I knew this meant there was something important he wanted to ask me. I allowed him to examine my skin for a few minutes before growing impatient and withdrawing my hands. Goku rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, now blushing.

“You never blush,” I said.

“Let’s just say you always keep my blood flowing. I’m kind of embarrassed by how I was acting. I’ve just been waiting for you for a long time so I get worried knowing you’re around all these men all the time.” He coughed, trying to force himself to finish what he wanted to say. “Please forgive me if I act like that again. It’s written in my DNA to be possessive of my woman.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s kind of cute. But don’t call me your woman unless you intend on grabbing me by the hair and dragging me to your cave.”

“Well that’s another thing I wanted to address. If I’m ever getting too demanding it would be in your best interest to go with it instead of yelling at me. My instinct to dominate coupled with our bond puts me on edge just a teensy bit. Please don’t provoke me, okay?”

“No problem, as long as you don’t hold me down on the bed after we’re done having sex. I honestly don’t understand why you did that. If you really won’t use any contraceptives then we definitely aren’t sleeping together anymore because I’m not gonna be ordered around by you. Speaking of which, we need to drop by the drug store before we cross over to your world.”

Goku’s face clouded over and he shook his head. “No. What is meant to be will be.”

“If we’re going to be having that kind of sex every night we’ll have more kids than we know what to do with. I’m not sure you understand what I’m saying so I’ll say it again. I’m going to the drug store to get Plan B so neither of us are saddled with new responsibility on top of everything that’s going on.”

When I took a step forward Goku swiftly blocked my path, both bulky arms folded over his chest menacingly. I was seriously not interested in being intimidated anymore so I crossed my own arms and tapped my foot irately. In truth, I was absolutely terrified out of my mind. Not only was he twice my size, he was enormously powerful and very dedicated to what he wanted. My window to get the pill was closing and he was wasting time that could be spent saving my hide.

Thoroughly annoyed, I tried to slap Goku across the face and my wrist was caught mid-swing. He scowled even deeper and held my arm while I struggled furiously. How could someone who was so perfect for me disagree with me on such a fundamental level? I was under the impression that most men lacked a strong opinion on what a woman did with her body, but here I was, held prisoner by a guy who might’ve impregnated me and refused to let me leave. I ripped my hand free and pushed his chest.

“Move!” I demanded. “What I do is none of your business!”

“No. What you’re doing is wrong. That’s just how nature takes its course—”

“Fuck nature, Goku. I will get a coat hanger and clean myself out like a dusty closet if you don’t get the hell out of my way.”

“Chi-Chi and I had sex a lot and she only got pregnant twice. The odds of it happening are pretty low so I wouldn’t worry too much.” He took my shoulders in his hands and gently pushed me backwards, eyeing me with a smile. “I think I know what’s wrong. You want me again, don’t you?”

“I’m being serious. Let go and move it.”

An eerie grin darkened Goku’s face and he continued pushing me backwards. “Don’t be a sour puss, Nome. I know you’re practically begging to feel me again. This time I won’t cover your mouth when you scream my name at the end. That’s always my favorite part of being with a woman. The raw energy; the uncontrollable passion. Now that you’re mine I get to feel that all day every day. No annoying distractions to keep us apart.”

The Saiyan’s eyes suddenly widened and he turned to see a huge distraction standing in my kitchen. Erin was holding a baseball bat with both hands, visibly shaking as she glanced between Goku and me. Once she confirmed I was okay she raised the bat and swallowed so hard I could almost see it from the bed. Goku absently pushed me down on the mattress with his fingertips and turned to fully face my friend who was a very breakable human woman.

Erin tried to gather her words. “You… leave! You’ve been making my best friend crazy ever since you stumbled into Kennebunk and I want you gone! Naomi was about to have eternal happiness with her boss or ex-boyfriend until you came along and ruined everything. Run back home to your wife and never come back here again or I’ll hit you in the head with this bat.”

“I’m not really the type to beat up on women,” Goku said sheepishly. “But if you try to come between me and my woman, I’ll have to make an exception. I’m not very good at sharing.”

“What have I told you about married men?” Erin asked, peering over Goku’s shoulder at me.

“I think now is a good time for us to go, Naomi. Say your goodbyes so we can go do what we have to in my world.”

I sat up in bed, giving Goku a dirty look in the process and caught Erin’s eyes with my own. “Erin, I’ll be back in a few days. I promise. There’s some strange stuff going on right now that I have to deal with before things can go back to normal. Try not to panic and tell my family I love them, okay?”

My best friend since childhood stepped forward with an arm outstretched but Goku grabbed my wrist and used instant transmission to make us disappear. The trip between dimensions was just as uncomfortable as before and I could feel my clothes tearing apart from the pressure but I didn’t really care. The last look on Erin’s face was so hurt and confused. How could I ever hope to explain anything if and when I finally returned? It wasn’t safe until we found Scoria and Fiamme.

We appeared in Goku’s house, which was strangely silent. I looked around his room with my arms covering my most obvious nude parts and noticed a lot of things had been taken out. Pictures, clothes, some furniture; all of it was gone and the room looked really disheveled. Goku rummaged through a drawer until he found one of his big orange training shirts that fit my like a dress. He pulled it over my head and tied the sash around my hips, stepping back to admire me a bit from a new angle.

The room felt strangely cold. When I crossed my arms and shivered Goku finally noticed I was uncomfortable and scratched the back of his head before finally hugging me tightly. Being pushed against his body was like crushing myself on a huge volcanic rock. He was incredibly warm and hard, probably from the layers of muscle underneath his skin. I was a human woman who didn’t work out too much so I was both more breakable and plushy, so to speak.

“Chi-Chi left,” Goku said, resting his chin on top of my head. “She took Goten with her to her father’s house deeper in the mountains. It’s weird, but the house is really empty now. I think Gohan still lives here, though. He’s on his way to college in the spring so we won’t have company for long.”

The way he said “company” gave me a mild case of the shivers. I really wanted to find Chi-Chi so I could apologize for destroying her already frail marriage but I highly doubted Goku wanted that to happen. She was probably all sorts of pissed off and me bothering her would just make things even worse. When I turned in Goku’s grasp to check out the destroyed room he beamed happily. 

“Do you like it? We can live here. She threw a lot of things when she left but I don’t mind picking them up. Videl said she’d love to come over and help us set things up.”

“Um… yeah, it’s great. Let’s head over to Bulma’s.”

In a flash I was slammed into the wall so hard it made the few remaining pictures of the wall shudder and crash to the floor. Goku pressed himself flush against me and it was obvious through my thick shirt what his desires were at the moment. He smiled at me, carefully brushing hair away from my face. It wasn’t particularly scary, just really surprising that he had moved so fast. I was still annoyed that he wouldn’t let me get Plan B to soothe the paranoia in the back of my head.

Goku laughed when I rolled my eyes. “Come on, Nome. Now that we’re together we have to establish some rules and boundaries. Most importantly, you’re mine now.”

“Have to be honest, I’m not a big fan of that one. It sounds creepy.”

“It’s just the way it has to be. You belong to me now and I want that be abundantly clear.”

“I know you’re looking for submission and you’re not gonna get it.” I glared back at him coldly, trying not to lose my nerve. “You’re acting really weird, Goku. Where’s the confidence you had in my world? Where is this paranoia and insecurity coming from? If it’s only because we’re together then maybe we should stop while we’re ahead. I shouldn’t be a source of stress.”

One of his big hands tangled in my hair and jerked sharply to the side so my neck was exposed, riddled with aging hickies and vague pains. Goku watched my face scrunch up when he tugged my hair and ran the fingertips of his other hand over my skin. It tingled. 

“Something about you brings out the Saiyan in me,” he said, tugging on my earlobe with his teeth. “I don’t know why or how, but I do know it’s really bothersome when you talk back.”

I grimaced when he kissed my jawbone. “Can we go?”

The only response I received was a slight chuckle. Heat crept up my spine and I felt the tugging intensify, willing me to do whatever Goku said. He lifted my hips up so my legs were locked around his waist and held me in place against the wall with the pressure of his chest against mine. His lips sought every inch of the conquered flesh of my neck and he slowly ground his pelvis into me, pulling on my hair whenever I started to mewl in pleasure. It wasn’t fair. I was a regular human being ravished by some alien with superstrength. There was no damn equality!

My alien lifted my away from the wall to kiss further down my neck towards my breasts and I leaned back in his grasp, unafraid of being dropped. There was no sign of strain in his arms as he greedily kissed my skin until he could finally drop me on the bed. I immediately sat forward to loosen his belt and Goku tugged off his shirt, bringing me face-to-face with his godlike body. How did he do it? Steroids must’ve been involved but they weren’t the kind that shrank his penis. Every time I saw him without even a shirt I felt so normal and insignificant that it actually hurt a bit.

Goku crept on top of me, pushing up my makeshift dress so one of his hands could explore the burning place between my legs. One of his fingers pushed inside me curiously and he watched my entire body react to the contact, writhing in excitement. He yanked the shirt aside to kiss one of my breasts and I could feel a vague rumbling in his chest. He was growling again. The tugging in my gut was becoming frantic from the sensation and I desperately pushed myself against Goku’s finger.

“Shh,” he whispered as he stroked me deep inside, “be patient.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Oh, you have no idea how very hard it is.” Goku watched me closely and licked his lips. “Pheromones make this downright unbearable but doesn’t that just make it better in the end?”

“Only bugs have pheromones.”

“I’m pretty positive humans have them. Usually I can smell and taste them but for a few days of the month they peak and it’s so hard to resist. It drives me crazy being within ten feet of a woman in that state and it seems like that’s where you are right now.”

It took a second for the pieces to connect but when they did I shrieked and wriggled desperately under Goku’s weight. He frowned and tugged his pants down a bit to pull out his manhood and I turned on my stomach to free myself. If pheromones peaked during a certain window of the month that only meant one thing: it correlated with my ovulation. If they happened to be especially enticing at the very moment Goku was talking to me that meant I was in prime condition to be impregnated.

The fear of having kids made it easy for me to forget how turned on I was, but Goku didn’t seem to get the picture. He reached a hand around to cover my mouth and moved closer so he was tauntingly close to my entrance. I was on my stomach facing the wall, incapable of explaining what exactly was making me panic and Goku had passed the point of no return. He wanted me and he would have me. 

“Something wrong?” he asked innocently. “You got really squirmy all of a sudden. But that’s okay, because I like when you fight me.”

I gnawed on his fingers until he finally let go to wipe off my saliva. “This isn’t a game anymore. Get off me! I don’t know what your motivation is but I am not having any kids.”

“Mmm, you’re so hot when you say no.” 

“Goku, I’m being serious, we need to figure something out ASAP. Fiamme did something to you during your vision and—”

The rest of my words were lost when Goku violently entered me, pushing my head down so my scream was absorbed by the pillows. It hurt, a lot. I could feel something wet dripping on my back and realized Goku was crying, trying to hold in the worst of it. Of all the insane things he had done this had to be the most berserk. I didn’t know if I should be angry or not.

“Stop telling me what to do,” Goku snapped in a gravelly voice. “Chi-Chi has been nagging me and ordering me around for twenty long years and I’m sick of it. Things are gonna be different with you. I’m not letting another woman call the shots and… and… yell all the time. So… so… be quiet and do what I say instead of treating me like a stupid child. I’m sick of everyone taking my good nature for granted.”

It was hard to breathe and moving was downright impossible. I managed to turn my head enough that I could get some air and speak to Goku. He was very close to snapping, no doubt thanks to our demonic friends meddling from afar. They wanted him to be possessive of me; to dominate and force me into sex. The bitter resentment Goku harbored toward Chi-Chi made it so easy for them to twist him to do what they wanted. But what did they want? A pregnancy? 

That was it. They needed a catalyst.

I grimaced and fisted the sheets in my hands as Goku pushed in and out, holding my hips against his to make things easier. Odds were that they would keep influencing him to behave more viciously until he finally got me pregnant, which could take anywhere from a week to a few years. After that happened he’d be even worse, keeping me from everyone and everything right up to the moment I gave birth. It was all too obvious now. A man and woman from two worlds would create something together that was technically from both planes of existence. The barriers would shatter.

“You’re doing what they want,” I said, mildly aroused by how Goku was acting. Sure it was insane and dangerous but goddamn, he took what he wanted. “You know it. If we have a kid everything will be destroyed. We’re from two different worlds, Goku. We aren’t meant to be together in the first place. We shouldn’t even know about one another’s existence.”

“Be quiet!” he demanded, yanking fiercely on my hair. “Women are all the same, so loud and whiny and they don’t care about you unless it has to do with money.”

“LISTEN TO ME!” 

My anger gave me enough strength to turn back over and free myself from Goku’s grasp, but I guessed he was feeling too guilty to hold me there much longer. I took his face between my hands and his grey eyes looked away sadly, off to another corner of the room. His eyes were puffy and red. There was an eternal agony in his face.

“I don’t know what to do,” Goku said hoarsely.

“We need to see Bulma. We need to figure this out.”

There was no reply. Goku’s broad shoulders fell and he leaned into my embrace.


	18. 18

Capsule Corp was still bright as day when Goku and I arrived. He was still dejectedly hanging his head as I led him inside and nearly bumped into the wall. I would save chastising him for his behavior after the insanity with Scoria and Fiamme was settled. Until then, we had much more important things to worry about, like how we were going to curb the evil impulses Goku was getting. It all made such perfect sense—unite both realms into one person instead of letting them remain apart. Even the universe itself was against us on almost all counts.

We made our way to the laboratory where Bulma was sitting in a chair, typing away at a keyboard before a gigantic computer. She turned to peer at us and entered a command that turned the screen black. There was no surprise in her eyes to see us there, nor did she seem particularly excited. She probably hated me just as much as Chi-Chi, Gohan, and Goten. If the world was close to being destroyed we had to put all of that behind us until the crisis was averted.

Goku had to be forcibly pushed down in a chair. He covered his face with a hand to let us know he wasn’t interested in the conversation. I waved away Bulma’s inquiring look and took a seat beside Goku, hoping he would forget his guilt we could focus on what mattered. She shrugged and leaned against another keyboard with her arms folded, waiting for me to state my business. Nothing was harder than telling a woman I barely knew about my short, erratic sex life with Goku.

“We have reason to believe someone is playing with Goku’s mind,” I said.

Bulma nodded. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that one. We also have reason to believe this person is doing it because they want Goku and I to make a baby that will shatter the barrier between our dimensions, thus freeing a demonic horde upon both our worlds. Don’t know the fine details but that’s the gist of it.”

There was a minute pause as Bulma drank in my words, trying to piece it together in her mind. Her eyes flickered between Goku and me, gauging his oddly silent demeanor and my uncharacteristically talkative one. She drummed her fingers on the keyboard, creating a hollow echo throughout the lab. I knew I sounded insane but Bulma was clearly an intelligent scientist and I prayed she could see what was so obviously glaring us in the eye. More silence passed.

“You have a handprint on your neck,” Bulma said.

“I know. There’re more important things to worry about.”

She smirked, reaching up to tug the collar of her turtle neck aside. There were some pretty ugly bruises covering her skin. “I’m surprised. Goku was never like that with Chi-Chi. They can’t help themselves when they really want you.”

Goku shuddered beside me.

“So do you believe me or not?” I asked, trying to avoid opening another can of worms.

“I’ll admit it’s a bit… strange, but yes, I believe you. That explains why you and Goku were bonded together in the first place and ties up a lot of loose ends. I’m wondering if your bond will be erased when the demons are gone. You can’t keep fending Goku off forever, so you have to choke it off at the source. We need to find these people and make sure they don’t open any portals.”

“That’s our issue right now. Goku can’t sense their energy anywhere and obviously I have no clue where to start looking. And like you said, we’re kind of tight on time here. A while ago I heard you guys talking about the Dragon Balls. Do you think those might be able to help us?”

“I doubt it. Shenron doesn’t get involved in problems mortals have and any wish we make might sound a bit nefarious to him.” Bulma rubbed the back of her neck, looking grim. “The only way we can lure them out of hiding is if they think they have a good reason to come out. Maybe we could bend the truth a bit and make a big deal over you getting pregnant. They’ll come out and Goku can do what he does best: beat the hell out of bad guys.”

There were suddenly signs of life in Goku. His hand moved away from his face and he sat up without so much as a glance in my direction. I knew he felt guilty but Jesus Christ, shouldn’t I have been the one that was mad? He shook his head and gestured vaguely at me.

“We can’t lie,” he said. “They probably already know our plans. Our only real option is to make a wish on the Dragon Balls or hope I can take them when the barrier is broken.” Goku’s grey eyes finally turned to me, full of unfathomable sadness. “I can’t resist forever. I’m trying but I think it’d be easier if we let Shenron solve our problems like he usually does.”

“But what kind of wish could we make that he’d be willing to grant?” Bulma asked. “We might be better off going to Namek to see Porunga instead of hoping Shenron can help.”

There were a few minutes of silence as we all ran over various options in our minds. I doubted we could simply wish people away so that was out of the question. We could wish for the dimensions to be sealed but I had a feeling it was beyond Shenron’s power. It also meant I either had to stay with Goku or go back to my own world, which I wasn’t prepared for. Another option was wishing for Scoria and Fiamme to appear before us, which still had no guarantee of victory. It had to be decisive.

The demons were the source of the problem and they needed to be destroyed or no wish would really make a difference. I felt a bit of selfish relief when I realized closing the portal between worlds wouldn’t help anyone. Scoria could possibly tear it open again and someone else might wander through, creating twice the problems. I looked between Goku and Bulma occasionally, hoping they were gonna have an epiphany and fix everything. Bulma was a genius, after all.

“We need to wish them here,” Goku said. His falsely cheery demeanor was completely gone. “I haven’t had a big fight in a long time but every other option keeps us at their mercy. I’ll have to train with Vegeta and the others for a week to make sure we’re ready before we summon them. Hopefully they’re the real leaders, not figure heads. Defeating them should send a message either way.”

Bulma nodded in agreement and Goku rose from his chair to leave, still totally ignoring me. When he left the lab I sighed and got up to thank Bulma, who was now pensive. She stared at the seat where her friend had been and cleared her throat when I turned to leave.

“I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into,” she said. “In regards to Saiyans, not this demon nonsense. Goku can be two different people sometimes. His nature clashes with who he is.”

“Aren’t you more upset I ruined your friend’s marriage?” I asked.

“No one can change fate.”

When I left, she pulled out a cigarette.

Goku wasn’t walking very fast but it still took me a minute to catch up with him. He had long legs that could cover more space than mine in a stride. I grabbed his arm to stop him and he stared at the floor when I turned him to face me. If he couldn’t pull it together we had no chance of beating the demons, which literally meant the end of the world. It hurt that he had been capable of doing such a thing but it wasn’t like I hadn’t been going along with it at the start. 

I took his face between my hands, secretly marveling at how smooth his skin was. “Goku, we have other things to worry about right now. I’m not mad at you. Don’t be mad at yourself.”

“Know what the worst part is?” he said, finally looking me straight in the eyes. “I think I liked it. The feeling of power and domination… it always brings out the Saiyan in me. I think it would be better if I stay away for a while to train with the others and you stay here at Bulma’s. I don’t want to do something I’ll regret and you’ll resent me for. Videl wanted to spend some time with you, anyway.”

“You’re part of a race that lived to conquer. I’m not blaming you for what’s written in your DNA and you shouldn’t blame yourself. Please stay with me for a while longer.”

“No. I’m not risking it. When we see each other again this will all be over.”

Suddenly he kissed me hard on the mouth, leaving me no room to talk. Then he pushed me back and disappeared, leaving me alone in Bulma’s hallway.


	19. 19

There wasn’t a word from Goku or Vegeta during those trying days. I was at my wit’s end, constantly peering out the window to see if any demons were descending on Earth and Bulma was smoking five packs of cigarettes a day. We discussed our plans for the invasion so many times that I began dreaming about them during my afternoon naps. Goku wormed his way into my head every so often but I tried my best to put him aside and focus on the daunting task at hand.

For a long while, there was nothing to do but wait and worry about the men. I wondered if they would ever come back like they had promised or if Bulma and I were destined to be alone during the coming apocalypse. My connection with Goku faltered frequently to the point where it didn’t keep me up at night being without him. It crossed my mind that the universe might be letting me off easy.

Who was I kidding? The universe was desperate to fuck me over.

On Friday afternoon, as I was resting on the porch upstairs at Capsule Corp., I heard someone knocking on the door downstairs. Bulma was out with the younger boys and Videl had gone away with Gohan until it was time for all of us to fight. I sighed and lazily got to my feet to answer it, secretly praying it was Goku and Vegeta coming back from their training. The sooner we could get the business overwith, the better. I wanted everything to be normal.

How normal could I be if I was involved with an alien who was twice my age that could cross dimensions and had a tail at some point in the distant past? Everyone’s perception of normalcy varied but mine was absolutely insane. I would’ve laughed if my heart wasn’t weighing me down so much.

When I pulled open the door, a familiar face was standing in the sunshine. Unfortunately, it wasn’t someone I should’ve been seeing in Goku’s realm. I squinted to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating and began thinking of stories in my head that could explain where he was. He was dreaming. I was dreaming. We were both in “Inception.” Someone slipped him some roofies.

Craig just smiled. Eerily.

“Hey,” I said stupidly.

He kept smiling. I uncomfortably rubbed the back of my head much like Goku and Craig’s eyes roamed down my body to settle on my abdomen. How the hell did he even get to Goku’s world? The only person who could cross the barrier was Goku himself with instant transmission. He could bring passengers but as far as I knew Craig wasn’t included on the VIP list.

“You never knew?” Craig asked. He sounded amused.

“Uh… I’m sorry, what? How did you get here?”

“Humans are insipid little creatures, aren’t they? Let’s chat, Naomi.”

I tried to close the door and he wedged his foot in the way, soon pushing inside. When we were both in the house, he shut the locked the door behind himself. He leaned against it and stared at me for a few moments before stepping forward. My foot immediately moved back. His smile widened into a grin.

“Don’t you know who I am?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips. “We’ve met several times in your dreams. You always ask me for answers that I won’t give and I always demand things of you that, ironically, you also refuse to give.” Craig’s eyes began to flood red. “Luckily, you finally have what I want. I don’t need to keep up this game any longer.”

No. It couldn’t be. Craig was a nice guy, not the host of a demon hellbent on commanding the entire universe. But his face began to change and I realized how very wrong I was. You couldn’t judge a book by its cover, especially when there were horns sprouting out of its forehead.

“You’re… Scoria?!” I shrieked.

“Oh dear, I see you’re surprised. Tsk tsk, such is the curse of mortality. Yes, I am Scoria. This is the heap of flesh I use during my time on Earth, when I shift between worlds. It took on a mind of its own during my absence, falling all over you like an abandoned puppy dog.” Scoria dusted off his jacket and stood taller. “Years ago, I attempted to impregnate you myself in this body. Our species are largely incompatible and it clearly did not work as planned, which lead me to Goku.

“It’s all so perfect. Now I see why mortals worship gods. Playing him has certainly given me a taste of that overwhelming power that will soon be mine. I can permanently discard this form and lead me hordes to your planet when the barrier is broken. Goku helped speed things along quite nicely.”

We were performing the intimidation dance—he walked forward and I moved backwards. It was unreal. Craig was actually a blank host for Scoria? Goku was right when he said something didn’t feel right about the guy. Even worse, I slept with him a few years back! I swallowed bile and chased the thoughts from my mind while tugging ferociously on my connection with Goku. It would be great for him to show up.

Scoria wasn’t telling me everything to be a helpful neighbor. No, it was all about to end for me. He liked the fear, though, and I had a feeling he’d want to taunt me for a while before delivering the final blow. Maybe Goku would sense me in time and be able to pummel his demon face into the ground.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

The demon raised an eyebrow. Craig’s flesh was falling off him in large chunks and covering Bulma’s floor in blood. It was exposing the tanned skin beneath that was part of Scoria’s true form. He idly reached over his shoulder to peel some particularly sticky skin off his back. I covered my mouth when he flung it on the floor and a whole sheet of flesh fell off his hands.

“Come now,” he said, “even you should know the answer to that. You have what I want.”

It dawned upon me like a creeping sickness. Goku’s attack hadn’t been in vain. Part of him had taken root in me and Scoria was here to collect.

“You… you can’t just rip it out!” I said, now protecting my abdomen. “It’s only been… I don’t know, a week? Don’t you have to wait until it’s older?”

“Don’t be silly. I’ll simply give your bundle of joy a bit of a growth spurt so it can meet the world a bit earlier than planned. When it’s ready, I will rip you in half to remove it. You’re nothing to me, Naomi. All I want is the microscopic anomaly inside you.”

What was taking Goku so long? I grabbed one of Bulma’s many potted plants and held it out as a weapon, making Scoria roll his eyes again. We were making our way out to the kitchen where he’d have a whole array of knives to cut me open with. How did he know I was pregnant before I did? More importantly, I was pregnant?! That was a complete game-changer! I had to settle down and stay home instead of going out with my friends.

That was all dependent on whether or not I could survive my encounter with Scoria, which was looking like a big fat “no.” I hurled the plant at his head and he was on me in a flash, pinning my frail human arms to the cold linoleum with his huge teeth jutting out of his mouth. Another pair of hands took mine from his grasp to hold me down so he could place his palms against my lower abdomen. I twisted my neck until I could see Fiamme kneeling above my head. 

“I thought you couldn’t break the barrier,” I said. I needed to stall, big time.

“Your impregnation weakened it.” Scoria’s hands began to glow. “Soon, it will shatter and my army can come forth from the planes Beyond. Hold still, human. You’re going to become a part of something the entire universe will never forget.”

“Please let me snap her neck,” Fiamme begged. “I’ve been waiting for so long.”

There was an uncomfortable swelling in my stomach. Whatever these creatures were, they already seemed to have powers that rivaled gods. Scoria was defying time and speeding along my pregnancy at an impossible rate after he had already broken a hole between two completely different realities that existed on parallel lines of time. The laws of nature were playthings to them.

Excruciating pain made it hard for me to keep focusing on what I was gonna do. I screamed and neither of them made an effort to cover my mouth, but Fiamme started laughing shrilly and dug her talons into my wrists until I bled. Scoria’s eyes widened as my body kept bubbling up; pregnancy hurt like hell normally and it was a hundred times worse when you were being forced through it. All the pain, stretching, and other nasty side effects were being compounded into a few minutes.

By the time I was fully ballooned, I was too delirious from the intense pain to really care. One of Scoria’s long nails elongated into a talon and he drew it in a slow slice across my stomach, making blood seep out onto the floor. Bulma was not gonna be happy when she came home to so much gore. His claws tore my gut apart and I noticed tears were streaming down my face. Where was Goku? Why was he letting me die? I knew he could sense that I was in danger.

A baby was crying. Fiamme released my arms and gasped. 

There was a loud crash and the two demons got to their feet. A few people were standing in the door, shouting something at Scoria. My vision was hazy and turning black—what was going on? I weakly raised a hand to feel the damage done to my stomach and choked on my tears. It was wide open; my insides were sticky and warm. Scoria had literally torn me to shreds in his haste.

“Naomi? Naomi, please… oh kami, I knew I shouldn’t have waited.” It was Goku. I could tell by the voice. He gently cradled my head and I felt another pair of hands resting over my fatal wounds. “Dende, do you think you can heal her?”

“If I can’t, it may be better to end her life quickly and let Shenron bring her back to life.”

People were fighting outside as the new guy named Dende began putting my mutilated body back together. The gentle caress of death faded away slowly and I was soon well enough to look up at Goku without wanting to faint. His eyes were brimming with tears but he waited until Dende was finished to scoop me up into his gigantic arms. I spluttered for air and Dende told him to let go or I’d pop open again and spill my organs all over the floor.

I wanted to greet Goku properly but I really needed to thank whoever saved my life. When I turned to Dende, I was surprised to see a green man with pointy ears and absolutely no hair. He smiled at me and wiped my blood off on a rag as I tried to comprehend what I was seeing. Then again, why did I care? I’d seen much weirder things ever since I met Goku.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Dende said. “Just to warn you, there’s another green man outside named Piccolo. I don’t want you to have a heart attack after I repaired your body.”

“I’m eternally grateful. Seriously, today is not my day to die.” I looked up at Goku and scowled. “Thanks for taking so long to show up, you jerk. Scoria forced me through an entire pregnancy in five minutes and now he’s doing god knows what with—”

“Honestly, Naomi, do you think I’d let some demon put his bloody hands all over any child of mine?”

That was when I finally lowered my eyes from Goku’s face. There was a very alert toddler sitting beside him, watching me with wide blue eyes. The hair was a carbon copy of Goku’s but it was easy to tell I was looking at a girl instead of a boy. She smiled widely and a furry tail flickered behind her. I stared in shock. That baby had been nothing more than a speck in me just a few minutes ago.

“We think Scoria stopped at about two years,” Dende said, breaking the awkward silence. “Bulma wants to run some tests to make sure everything’s in order but we don’t have time for that right now. We need to keep her away from the demons and destroy them.”

I stared at the little girl. “Hi.”

She grinned and leaned on Goku, hiding her face in his bloodstained shirt.

“It’s a lot to deal with, I know,” Goku said, “but I need you to keep an eye on her so I can help the others get rid of Scoria and Fiamme. After that we can figure out what we’re going to do.”

“What… I…” I ran a hand through my hair, soaking it with blood. “This is her? This is the itsy bitsy thing that was in me ten minutes ago? Are you telling me I’m a mother now? That changes everything. Will she grow up in your world or mine? What school will she go to? For god’s sakes, what’s her name?”

“Relax,” Goku said, touching my shoulder gently. 

After giving me a quick peck on the forehead he was gone, along with Dende. I sat dumbly on the floor and stared at the little girl—my little girl—for another minute or two before getting to my feet. She sprung up, lithe as a cat, and even propelled herself into the air to hover in front of me. It was kind of nice that I didn’t have to go through nine months of pregnancy but having a small child flung in my face was really daunting. 

The girl took my hand. “Let’s go, mama.”

We made our way to the basement of the house to hide out while everyone battle it out upstairs. I felt pathetic cowering in the corner while the rest of the group had to take on the true evil. The girl sat beside me on the musty couch and blinked her brilliant blue eyes at me. As I tried to think of something to say, the door flung open and Bulma came down the stairs, smirking. She sat beside my daughter and whipped a stethoscope out of her lab coat to listen to her heartbeat.

“Goku has this one in the bag,” Bulma said, listening intently to the girl’s heart. “They don’t need me and I’m very curious about this little one so I decided to come down here. I wish you could see it, Naomi. Your man doesn’t kid around when he’s really angry.”

“We can see soon!” the girl said excitedly. “Daddy told me not to open the Door unless he said so.”

“Your heart sounds great. I’ll need to run some more tests but I don’t think anything is seriously wrong. You’re lucky. Carrying a half-Saiyan is even more painful than a normal pregnancy.”

Time wore on. Bulma left a while later to check how everything was going outside and came downstairs to tell me it was safe to go out and see the damage. My daughter trotted along happily beside me. Thankfully she inherited Goku’s personality instead of mine or she would’ve been a nervous wreck. We stepped through piles of guts and blood in Bulma’s living room and stepped out into the bright sunshine to see how everyone was faring against the demons.

Trunks and Goten were sitting on the ground cheering as their fathers each beat the hell out of the invaders. Vegeta was covered in red fur and had a red tail twitching behind him. He had his foot on Fiamme’s back and was forcing her to bend over backwards, making her spine snap in several places at once. He let her go and leaned down to twist her neck in one swift motion, ending one of the demons.

I covered my daughter’s eyes and Bulma raised an eyebrow. “Trust me, she’ll be used to this kind of stuff by the time she’s five. We’re all desensitized to it. Blood and guts and death are all in a normal day for the lovers of Saiyans. Speaking of which, I’m mildly offended Gohan and Videl didn’t show up.”

“They didn’t need to,” Vegeta spat as he kicked Fiamme’s body away. “These two were weaklings, just as Kakarot and I thought. They wanted to finish their plans before we could get to them.”

There was a shockwave announcing the arrival of Goku and Scoria. I was surprised to see Goku had changed in the same way Vegeta did: he was red and furry, with lines around his eyes and a tail flickering behind him. He grappled with the greater demon and finally threw him into the ground, where Vegeta fell upon him. Scoria howled furiously as the two Saiyans worked on holding him down so they could break his neck the same way they did Fiamme’s.

“You’re all fools!” Scoria hissed. “The universe itself does not want your unnatural union—”

A sickening crack was the end of him. Goku scowled at Vegeta, who had been more than happy to terminate Scoria. He scooped up the body and tossed it over to Fiamme’s, then grimaced as Bulma raced forward to hug him tightly around the neck. It was over. I felt a tug on my shirt and looked down.

“Mama, it’s gone,” the girl said.

“What is?”

“The Door. There’s nothing on the other side anymore.”


	20. 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All done! This is probably my least favorite story and I wrote a couple years back, but I figured I'd share it.

As I stared at my daughter, trying to make sense of what she was saying, Gohan and Videl arrived on the scene looking like they were ready to fight. Goku shook his head and gestured at the two dead demons and I knelt down in front of the little girl with a tail wrapped comfortably around her waist. She smiled brightly and locked her arms around my neck in a hug that was too tight for my human bones.

“What do you mean?” I asked, afraid that I already knew the answer.

Her clear blue eyes blinked and she put her arms behind her head casually in the same way her father did. “The Door is shut. You can’t go now. Everything is safe now and it feels… unshakey.”

“I… I can’t go back to my world?”

“Nope! It’s all closed and fixed up good.”

My chest tightened uncomfortably and I tried not to cry. I could never see my family again and never tell Erin I was okay. She would live in constant worry over me and what ended up happening. The portal had been sealed, leaving me stranded on the wrong side. Crippling loneliness and guilt hit me full force and I covered my mouth to keep from screaming. All of my friends were gone. I would never go out drinking with Erin again, never joke around with Vic at work, and never trip over Peter in the morning.

Worst of all, I’d never see either of my siblings get married and have kids of their own. Hell, I probably wouldn’t get married. Panic started settling in when I looked up at my daughter again and she offered me a toothy grin. My life was predetermined. I never even had a choice. Now I was a mother to a half-alien child who had a tail growing out of her behind.

A pair of powerful arms caught me when I fainted.

-~-

A warm compress on my forehead woke me up some time later. My eyes fluttered open and I saw Goku sitting beside me in a chair, smiling as I slowly came into awareness. The room was painted blue and had some decorations that made me think of being at the beach—we had to be in Capsule Corp. Sandy-colored sheets were tucked around my arms to keep me warm and there was a glass of water with some ice sitting on the nightstand. I tried to sit up but Goku gently pressed me back down.

The room was spinning as I pieced together the events of the day. It was nighttime now. I clutched my forehead and grimaced as nausea twisted around in my stomach. There were so many things to worry about that I couldn’t see any positives. Tears slid down my cheeks and Goku leaned forward to brush them away with his thumb, trying desperately to comfort me.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” he said, “but I’m here for you, Naomi. We all are. I already talked to Gohan and he’s happy for us—he’s playing with Celeria and Goten outside right now. She’s perfectly healthy and strong, just like me.” He scooted his chair closer, grey eyes glittering excitedly. “And she’s really smart! She can talk and use big words and do math with Goten already.”

“Ce-who-riah?” I echoed.

“Celeria. I thought it was pretty. We can name her something else if you want but I didn’t want her to keep going around without a name.” He twiddled his thumbs and looked at me from under his eyebrows; a shy giant. 

“No, it’s… unorthodox, but nice. It’ll make her fit in well here. Not so much in my world, but that doesn’t really matter anymore. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to accept having a daughter. I didn’t even know I was pregnant until Scoria started making me swell up like a balloon. Now I’m stuck here forever and we have a child to raise and… it’s just surreal.”

“It isn’t all bad,” Goku said earnestly. “My world has been peaceful for a long time now and it’s much less dangerous than yours. You can trust people here and they won’t hurt you in the end. We can live at my house in Mt. Paozu and raise Celeria and maybe Chi-Chi will let her play with Goten. I know it’s hard for you to be taken away from your family like that but there are people here who love you.”

I nodded tiredly. “I know that and trust me, I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. It doesn’t change the fact that I left my family behind and they’ll never be comforted. They’ll think I ran away or I was murdered. Even Erin had no clue what was going on and she never will. It’s gonna be hard living with myself knowing I’ve done that to them.”

“None of us knew what would happen when Scoria and Fiamme were gone. We could only guess and do what we thought was right.” Goku took my hands in his mine and kissed the top of my palms. “I’m so sorry. If you want to be alone, I understand.”

When he moved to get up I quickly tugged on his hand so he stayed in his chair. “There’s time for me to be sad later. Right now, you and I need to get better acquainted with Celeria and figure a few other things out.” I took his face in my hands and smiled. “If it came down to a choice between my world and yours, you should know I would’ve picked yours a thousand times over.”

Goku kissed me hard and yanked me out of bed into his lap. He ran his hands over my skin like he was making sure I was still intact and hugged me to bury his face in the crook of my neck. I hugged him back and kissed his hair then ran my fingers through it. After all the suffering, we could finally strive to achieve our own sense of normalcy. More tears sprang from my eyes and I hid my face in his thick hair.

“Our bond broke, too,” Goku said when we broke apart. He rubbed his eyes on his sleeve and offered me a lopsided grin. “You finally slept without me and there’s no more pain when we’re separated. It’s kind of a relief that we don’t need to be attached at the hip.”

It was good news. Now I was my own person once again. We kissed a few more times before he set me back on the bed and went to open the door for the next visitor. To my delight, Celeria was standing in the doorway with her hands clasped behind her back, wearing a very tiny version of her father’s training clothes. She looked up at him for confirmation and ran to me, leaping into bed and knocking me over backwards. There was no tail attached to her anymore.

Celeria was definitely matured beyond her years. I was somewhat relieved I didn’t actually have to take care of a baby because the thought of it frightened me. Goku was right when he called her smart. She spoke in staunch detail of her experiences with life so far: how it was kind of scary but really exciting. It was still hard to believe Celeria had come from me and Goku. I had created life with him.

The rest of the group came in after Celeria was taking a nap on me with her thumb stuck in her mouth. Bulma showed me a sheet detailing all the tests she ran on my daughter that guaranteed she was okay while Dende and the guy I assumed was Piccolo stood off to the side watching all of us. Two new people, Krillin and Android 18, came over to say hi with their daughter, Marron. She giggled when she saw Celeria and hid behind her father’s leg. Bulma rubbed her abdomen, smiling to herself and Vegeta flushed pink and muttered something in her ear.

“Oh my gosh,” Videl said when she could finally approach the bed. “Naomi, she looks… well, she looks a lot like Goku. This is my first time seeing her and… wow.”

“It’s in the genes,” Gohan said sourly, motioning to his excited little brother. 

“Is she gonna fight bad guys, too?!” Goten asked. “Trunks and I were gonna ask her to race tomorrow! Is that okay, Miss Naomi?”

“Well she’s kind of tiny.” I pulled Celeria closer and she snuggled into me. My heart melted. “You don’t think she’s kind of fragile for that sort of thing?”

Krillin started laughing. “Highly unlikely. Saiyans are built to take a beating. You should’ve seen how badly Gohan was pummeled when Raditz came to Earth and almost wiped us all out. She’ll be fine! We have senzu beans and Dende is always around to help out—”

“No,” Goku said firmly, “if Naomi doesn’t want her fighting… I won’t push it. I made that mistake with Chi-Chi and I don’t want to repeat it again. We both made her so… so we both make decisions about what she’s gonna do. Right, Nome?”

Everyone in the room fell silent in shock, including me. Since when was Goku so thoughtful? He tapped his fingertips together and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, grinning. Celeria’s eyes opened and she hopped out of my lap the second she laid eyes on Goten, assuming a fighting stance. Goten did the same and they flew out of the room along with Trunks until all we could hear was their laughter.

Videl grinned. “I guess she answered that question for you.”

It was dark out but we all went downstairs to socialize for a while. I was exhausted—as soon as everyone left I was going to have Goku take us straight home for bed. The thought of it made my heart skip a beat. Goku and I were actually together now, not just floating between friendship and a long-term commitment. I didn’t want to get married or anything quite yet but it was comforting to know our relationship was finally defined.

Goku talked eagerly with his Krillin about his battle with Scoria and Vegeta occasionally corrected his facts. I had a host of questions for Bulma about raising Celeria which she was more than willing to answer. She already printed off some pointers for me to read over and mentioned that I should be happy I skipped over breast feeding. Celeria was apparently as easy-going and likeable as her father; yet another welcome relief I had been praying for. The last thing I needed on top of everything else was a difficult child that wouldn’t listen to me.

As we all settled into our conversations, Goku’s head suddenly snapped around and he was outside in the blink of an eye. As we all looked at each other in confusion, the sound of a child crying drifted inside the house and we all hurried outside to see what was going on. I prayed neither of the boys had hurt Celeria. She was so tiny and I would never forgive myself—

Why did I even bother worrying?

Celeria was safe in Goku’s arms with an unmistakably tired pout on her face. She clenched his shirt in her fists and burst into tears again until he gently shushed her and rubbed her back with three of his fingertips. She sniffled pitifully and Trunks rolled his eyes, elbowing Goten in the ribs.

“Girls are annoying,” Trunks said. “They’re all whiny and stuff.”

“Hey mister, you were the same way at that age!” Bulma said. “Poor Celeria just needs to go to bed. I’m sure she’ll go back to beating you two up tomorrow morning.”

“Hah! No child of Kakarot’s will overpower my boy,” Vegeta said.

“I’ll take her on right now!” Trunks suddenly exploded into light, making his hair turn gold and stand up on end. He took a step forward and reassumed his fighting stance.

Goku held Celeria closer and I could have sworn I saw his upper lip curl in a snarl. I knew when to keep my mouth shut and when it was a good time to intervene.

“Alright, let’s get her home for some rest. She did a heck of a lot of growing today.” I was trying to be urbane and stop them from pummeling each other. “We’ll come by in the morning and you can play all day if you want, but for tonight, she needs to relax with her father and me.”

“Okay!” Goten said brightly. “Don’t worry, Miss Naomi, I’ll never let anyone hurt my little sister.” He turned to Trunks and glowered at him. “Even if they’re right about girls being whiny.”

Goku ruffled his youngest son’s hair. “That’s my boy.”

We bade farewell to everyone and promised to come back in the morning to talk some more. Videl hugged me fiercely around the waist and told us Gohan would be staying at her house for a while. Goku unwillingly passed Celeria to me and I supported her in one hand so I could hold Goku’s with my other one. He placed two fingertips to his forehead and we were gone in a flash.

Back at home, Goku practically tore Celeria away from me and brought her to Gohan’s bedroom. He hummed quietly to her as he laid her down in bed and pulled the sheets up and all I could do was stand and watch in awe. He wasn’t joking when he said he loved kids. It was kind of cute to see it in action. When he bent down to kiss her forehead our daughter suddenly lunged out of bed to embrace him around the neck. I could see Goku’s shoulders fall in defeat and he hugged her back.

“Daddy, will you show me how to beat them up?” Celeria asked.

“What, you don’t want me to do it for you?”

“No!” Her chest puffed out proudly. “I can beat boys up all by myself!”

It wasn’t tough to tell who her father was.

Goku laughed and helped her back in bed. “How about you go to sleep and we talk in the morning?”

Celeria didn’t have much of a choice: her little eyes could barely stay open. She blew me a kiss and waved heartily before snuggling into Gohan’s pillow for bed. Goku stood there for a few moments to stare at her and finally left the room when I cleared my throat. He carefully shut the door behind him and I was suddenly wrapped up in his arms.

“I love you,” he whispered.

As we stood together in the quiet house with our daughter sleeping peacefully in the next room, I realized my attraction to Goku had taken on a life of its own. Our bond didn’t matter. I was grateful that we had been pushed together and at times, violently clashed. I smiled.

“I love you, too.”


End file.
